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Thursday, 26 October 2006 |
The state of health care in the
United States is a disgrace. For tens of millions of Americans, it is
a struggle between life, health, and money. The Zeese campaign
supports national health care with a single-payer plan that replaces
the for-profit, private health-insurance industry. This approach is
supported by the following groups: Physicians for a National Health
Program (PNHP); the American Nurses Association; the U.S. Labor
Party; the California Nurses Association; the National Association of
Social Workers; the Associations of Physicians Assistants; the
National Association of Midwives, among others.
It is long
past time to make health care available to all. The United States is
the only industrialized country that does not provide universal
health care. We could achieve health care for all Americans without
financial barriers, and for less money than the current system.
The
United States spends far more on health care per person than any
other country in the world, but ranks only 37th in the overall
quality of health care it provides, according to the World Health
Organization. Again, the U.S. is the only industrialized country that
does not provide universal health care.
A national
health-care plan increases the freedom of every individual by giving
consumers control over their health care choices, rather than the
for-profit private health-insurance industry deciding what doctor or
health facility a consumer can use. The bureaucracy of private health
insurance accounts for 25% of the cost of health care, representing
hundreds of billions of dollars in waste. Indeed, the typical
doctor’s office spends 42% of their overhead on trying to get paid
from health-insurance companies. In addition to saving hundreds of
billions in bureaucracy, a single payer system allows administrators
to catch more of the $150 billion in annual billing fraud that occurs
today. I support an efficient publicly financed single-payer system,
which carries numerous benefits:
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Businesses are relieved of the burden of health care – an
uncontrollable cost that threatens business and makes hiring employees
risky. The cost of health care makes it almost impossible for U.S.
businesses to compete with countries that have a national health-care
plan.
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Workers benefit because they have the freedom to change jobs,
return to school, or take care of their families without worrying about
losing their health care.
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Single payer ensures comprehensive benefits throughout an
individual's life.
-
Physicians benefit because administrative bureaucracy is
reduced, every patient encounter is covered, patients visit their
doctors more often and quality care is rewarded.
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Malpractice is greatly reduced because patients with poor
medical outcomes are provided with health care. If single payer is
combined with no-fault insurance (that included damages), the
malpractice problem disappears while ensuring that patients’ needs will
be met and litigation reduced. Vigilant oversight of malpractice
insurance and of doctors involved in repeated malpractice would further
reduce the malpractice insurance burden on medicine. Malpractice will
not be needed to enforce quality care as single payer can create
positive incentives as consumers would not choose their doctors based
on their health-insurance company or cost, but rather on the quality of
service.
Providing universal health care can only be accomplished
through a single-payer system: no country ever achieved universal
coverage with private health insurance. President Harry Truman
proposed universal health care in 1948 but was rebuffed by Congress.
The time to act is now and to do so with urgency.
For more
information see: Health
Care for All
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