Look at the pros and cons
Many politicians recognize the need for change, but rather than advocate for what every other industrialized nation in the world has (Single Payer universal healthcare), they push for something that cannot solve our health care problems: the “Public Option.”
Our current system of paying for health
care is:
- needlessly complex,
- confusing,
- wasteful,
- tied to employment,
- administered by private (often for-profit) companies,
- not universal, and
- onerous (for patients, providers, and employers).
In contrast, Single Payer (Medicare for
All) is a vastly superior method of payment for coverage:
- simple,
- universal,
- cost-efficient, and
- has the leverage to negotiate prices for drugs, devices, and services.
KEY POINT: Single payer gets rid of expensive middlemen/health insurance companies but leaves our current healthcare providers in place – however, with more freedom to deliver care.
The Public Option might seem like an attractive “middle ground” fix for our broken system of paying for health care. The Public Option, however, leaves in place all our current problems.
1. Continuing Skyrocketing Costs There is
no compelling evidence that the Public Option will lower overall costs.
Numerous studies, however, have determined that Single Payer would save money
for all but the wealthiest individuals, in addition to lowering the price tag
of health care for businesses and providers. These analyses even include one
study1 done by the Mercatus Institute, a conservative
think tank that set out to prove that Single Payer would be more expensive and
wound up demonstrating the opposite!
2. Complexity The Public
Option merely adds complexity to our overly complex, wasteful system by
grafting another insurance option on to our current set of insurance plans.
3. Waste It has
been estimated that 33% of all “health care” dollars spent in the US is not
used for actual spending on health care.2
4. Unsustainability The Public
Option would allow Private insurers to continue to “cherry pick” the healthiest
members for their plans and to shunt sicker patients to the Public Option. This
will make the Public Option increasingly costly to maintain and send it into a
death spiral.
5. Insufficient Market Share to
Negotiate Lower Prices In contrast to Single Payer, the Public
Option would not have the leverage to negotiate effectively for lower drug and
device prices that would be more in line with what other Western countries are
paying for these items.
6. Limiting Choices Health insurers
currently limit your choice of healthcare providers and services. Single Payer
gives consumers back their ability to choose the doctors and hospitals they
want. 3 The only choice the Public Option gives
you is one more plan with inadequate coverage.
7. Delay implementing the only
system that can work The near-certain death spiral of the
Public Option plans merely delays enactment of Single Payer. The delay will
continue to subject many to increased morbidity and mortality as insurance
companies will be able to continue to deny care and consumers will continue to
forgo needed care due to concerns about copays and deductibles.
8. Forcing health care providers
to focus on insurance requirements rather than care. The Public
Option will leave in place all of the insurance red tape associated with our
current system. In contrast, Single Payer will allow doctors, hospitals, and
pharmacies to focus on health care, rather than on reimbursement.
9. Injustice Single Payer
coverage would provide everyone with the same coverage and thus will eliminate
an important source of discrimination based on race, identity, and income.
10. Profit-Driven Decisions The Public
Option would leave private health insurance companies accountable to their
shareholders. Single payer would make the health care payment system
accountable to the public – all of us!
Support single payer by: 1) using this simple form to email all your federal
and state elected officials and 2) signing an open letter of support. For more
information, email: pnhp.ri@gmail.com.
References
- Charles Blahous. “The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System.” Mercatus Working Paper, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Arlington, VA, July 2018.
- https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa022033; and https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/may/11/jennifer-williamson/do-we-really-spend-nearly-third-health-care-dollar/
- https://upriseri.com/dr-anita-kestin-single-payer-oped/ March 10, 2021.
Dr Anita Kestin M.D. M.P.H is a member of PNHP-RI with
an M.D. degree and an M.P.H. degree from Brown University.
