Why Single Payer?
WHY SINGLE PAYER FOR THE UNITED STATES?
Joel Clemmer, clemmer@cpinternet.com
1. The United States health care system is the most expensive among developed countries.
2. Critical health care outcomes in the U.S. are inferior to those of other developed countries.
3. “Inappropriate use” of health services in the U.S. is not the problem.
4. The high cost of our health care transactions is the problem.
5. High administrative overhead for private insurers is a major contributor to our high health costs.
Administrative overhead |
||
Canada |
1% |
percent of expenditures. Woolhandler, New England Journal of Medicine, 2003 |
Medicare |
2% |
percent of expenditures. {Medicare] Annual Report |
Blue Cross/ Blue Shield |
at least 15% |
Kip Sullivan, The Health Care Mess , 2006, p. 371 |
a non-profit HMO |
at least 19% |
MN Attorney General Mike Hatch, Memorandum of understanding with Allina…:administrative expenses, 2001 |
for profit private insurers |
average 25% |
(% revenues top 4 companies 1999) Woolhandler and Himmelstein, Bleeding the Patient , 2001, 109 |
6. Paying for health care transactions through a single payer is an effective way to cut costs and extend coverage.
A single-payer system would cut U.S. health care administrative costs by 9.5%. A universal health insurance system with no co-payments or deductibles would add 9% to total U.S. health-care spending, less than the amount saved.
-- paraphrased from U.S. General Accounting Office. Canadian Health Insurance: Lessons for the U.S. , 1991
7. Single payer health care financing is not “socialized medicine”.
Socialized medicine is a system in which doctors and hospitals work for the government and draw salaries from the government. Doctors in the Veterans Administration and the Armed Services are paid this way. Examples also exist in Great Britain and Spain . But in most European countries, Canada , Australia and Japan , the government pays for care that is delivered in the private (mostly not-for-profit) sector. This is similar to how Medicare works in this country.
-- Physicians for a National Health Program, FAQ
8. The proven, popular Medicare program demonstrates the effectiveness of single payer financing.
For further information, see Kip Sullivan, The Health Care Mess: How We Got Into It And How We will Get Out Of It . Bloomington, IN, AuthorHouse, 2006
-- Joel Clemmer, clemmer@cpinternet.com, February 14, 2007
Saint Paul Health Care Resolution
This resolution will be introduced at the March 6 DFL precinct caucuses in Saint Paul in cooperation with the DFL Progressive Caucus and the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition.
RESOLUTION THAT THE CITY OF SAINT PAUL SUPPORT UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BASED ON SINGLE PAYER FINANCING
WHEREAS, the health care system of the United States costs more on a per capita basis than that of any other industrialized country, yet critical health care outcomes in the United States are below those of most other industrialized countries; and
WHEREAS, the extraordinary cost of health care insurance is a major impediment to universal access to care; and
WHEREAS, the high administrative overhead imposed by health insurers and necessary to a health care system that supports them are principal causes of our high health care costs; and
WHEREAS, paying health care providers through a single financing entity removes this high administrative overhead from the system and makes health care much more affordable; and
WHEREAS, all the preceding propositions are borne out by our own Medicare system; and
WHEREAS, reducing the high cost of health care coverage would allow Saint Paul to provide more services for its citizens;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council endorse the state and federal implementation of a universal, affordable health care system based on single payer financing in order to reduce the suffering and dying in our city, our state and our nation; and
BE IT RESOLVED that once adopted by the city of Saint Paul, copies of this resolution be sent to the entire Congressional delegation, Minnesota legislature, and Governor Tim Pawlenty.