So if we have a single payor system, who pays the bills? The government?
So the government would get to decide what procedures and drugs to cover and at what cost? They'd decide doctor and nurse pay? How is this a good thing for the ones providing the services? France is #1 in healthcare - and they have a kind of PPO program with a variety of reimbursers. They pay taxes out the wazoo for it, but the doctors and patients have more choice, as opposed to the British version....
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1 :
We also have to remember that a lot of us current pay out the wazoo out our pocket for health care. What we pay from our payroll would simply turn over to gov't.
2 :
Just like in France, the taxpayers would pay for it. Now here's a thought - for 85% of Americans, a good portion of their medical insurance is an untaxed benefit at work. If we went to a national health care, which would dramatically increase our taxes, do you think your employer would hand over the money he previously spent on medical benefits? Or just add it to his bottom line?
3 :
[Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private. Currently, the U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($7,129 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 46 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered. The reason we spend more and get less than the rest of the world is because we have a patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. Combined, this needless administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans’ health dollars. Single-payer financing is the only way to recapture this wasted money. The potential savings on paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, are enough to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone without paying any more than we already do. Under a single-payer system, all Americans would be covered for all medically necessary services, including: doctor, hospital, long-term care, mental health, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. Patients would regain free choice of doctor and hospital, and doctors would regain autonomy over patient care. Physicians would be paid fee-for-service according to a negotiated formulary or receive salary from a hospital or nonprofit HMO / group practice. Hospitals would receive a global budget for operating expenses. Health facilities and expensive equipment purchases would be managed by regional health planning boards. A single-payer system would be financed by eliminating private insurers and recapturing their administrative waste. Modest new taxes would replace premiums and out-of-pocket payments currently paid by individuals and business. Costs would be controlled through negotiated fees, global budgeting and bulk purchasing.]
4 :
With as much money as insurance costs, if they raised taxes some and stopped taking insurance out of my paycheck, I'd probably come out ahead.
5 :
To answer your question; In the purposed single payer system the Democrats want, the government would pay the bills and decide who gets procedures and drugs. It is not a good thing for those providing the services because they are forced to accept what the government pays them, Look to the doctor shortage to our north in Canada now needing foreign doctors to cover their socialized health care. In France the current tax rate is 52.75% of income for taxes, that is the second highest tax rate in the world. I am sure people could not live on what is left of your paycheck after the Government takes their half. http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/08/28/doctor-shortage.html
6 :
Hopefully, the wealthiest 5%..
7 :
The government is already in the business of managing vast and complex programs, and sets the pay rates for all sorts of professionals in its employ, including a number of doctors and nurses, as well as air marshals, national park rangers, and the receptionist at the FBI. As far as I'm concerned, it could be a single-payer or a combination. I'm not fixated on any one model. I just refuse to believe that we Americans cannot conceive and execute a system that covers all of our citizens with at least adequate baseline services. I was raised to believe that we can do anything.
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