FAQs

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

How does Single Payer work?
Single Payer is the only health care reform that will cover everyone and lower costs. It works by expanding our current Medicare system, which currently covers all Americans over the age of 64, to cover everyone. The government becomes the one insurance provider for everyone, greatly reducing bureaucracy and reducing costs dramatically by purchasing goods and services at enormous quantities of scale. This one giant pool of insurance would be funded through our taxes.

Does that mean raising taxes?
Expanding Medicare to provide healthcare for all is worth paying for, and will require higher taxation. A progressive tax structure could alleviate the burden from poor and working class Americans by asking wealthier citizens to contribute a higher percentage of their earnings. This goes against the grain of “Reaganomics,” the pervasive model of tax cutting and deregulation originated by conservative economist Milton Friedman in the 1950′s. Back then the wealthiest Americans paid 90% of their income in taxes. Today they pay 36%. As a result Americans, compared to Europeans, are working harder and have less spending power every year. We’ve all seen our tax dollars wasted on unnecessary wars and cynical bailouts that end up in the pockets of the rich. A Single Payer health care system, paid for by a progressive tax structure, is the first step toward leveling the economic playing field in the United States and reducing our nation’s financial debt.

Wouldn’t Single Payer disrupt the current system?
It is important to realize that over 60% of Americans already have health insurance coverage paid for by our government when you include private plans paid for by tax credits. Add to that all government workers, public officials and veterans of the armed forces. We also spend our tax dollars to cover the costs of the uninsured when they visit the emergency room. These emergency visits are the terribly inefficient and costly.

What will happen to the private insurance companies?
While the role of private insurers will be greatly reduced by a Single Payer system, there will still be a market for additional coverage. Countries like Canada which have implemented a Single Payer still have private insurers that offer coverage beyond the basic comprehensive government plan. Still, the number of businesses profiting from American illness will be slashed in favor of a vast and humane non-profit system that places people over profits. Suddenly 47 million Americans will qualify for health care benefits and millions of jobs will be available. Private insurance employees will migrate from jobs with the goal of denying coverage to jobs with a goal of providing care.

Would Single Payer still provide a choice of doctors and hospitals?
A Single Payer system places all doctors and hospitals across the nation into one giant network. No more worries about who’s in and who’s out. All Americans are covered and all providers are in the network.

Won’t Single Payer be just another inefficient government program?
Quite the opposite. The current system of employment-based coverage and private carriers is really the height of inefficiency. Private insurers spend millions of dollars each year tracking eligibility, collecting premiums, marketing to healthy (profitable) patients, demarketing to avoid the sick, and shifting costs to patients and providers. Single payer eliminates each of those steps simply by tying into the current Social Security database for automatic enrollment. And the system streamlines the user’s experience too. With Single Payer you can change jobs without even thinking about your health coverage. You can visit a doctor without having to pay a deductible. You can obtain prescriptions without having to make a co-payment. You don’t spend any money out of pocket ever. There are no monthly payments or payroll deductions. All payments are all streamlined through taxation, and it costs working families a lot less. It may sound too good to be true, but our neighbors in Canada have a Single Payer system and no Canadian politician would ever run against it because it is so popular.

Don’t Canadians wait in long lines because of Single Payer?
Sometimes, but only for non-emergency care. Because all Canadians have health coverage, there have been bottlenecks, but Canadians never worry about paying for services AND they know that in an emergency they will receive immediate care. Many Americans are also disappointed with waiting times even with private insurance plans. The difference is that all Canadians have health insurance and 47 million Americans don’t.

Will the passage of a Public Option lead to Single Payer?
No. Unfortunately the Public Option is doomed fail, and future lawmakers will look back and argue that a public health care system just can’t work in the US. This is because a public plan can only save money if everyone participates. The problem with the Public Option is that, unlike Medicare for All, it will only be available the poor and to people with pre-existing conditions. This means that the Public Option will not enjoy savings from large economies of scale. It also means that many of the Public Option patients will be sick and indigent, the most expensive demographics from the pool of citizenry. Not everyone will have a choice to buy into the Public Option. Most working people make too much money to qualify for the plan. Worse yet, since all Americans will be mandated by law to purchase some form of health insurance, the vast majority will be buying from a private company with a vested interest in denying coverage in order to increase profits. There are countless examples of hard working Americans who have paying for private health insurance for years only to find that when they actually got sick, the coverage they paid for was denied.

Will the government control my health care?
In a Single Payer system all private doctors and hospitals can operate exactly as they do now, only they won’t waste nearly so much time negotiating private insurance plans in order to be compensated. All medical services will be paid for through one source – the government.

Won’t Single Payer be too expensive?
The US spends over $8000.00 per American for health care coverage. That price includes the 47 million who are left uncovered. Compare that figure to just over $4000.00 per citizen in most other industrialized countries that guarantee coverage for all citizens.

How can that be? Why do we spend twice as much yet fail to cover everyone?
The US is the only industrialized country that has a for-profit health care system. Most hospitals, doctors and insurance providers consider themselves in the “business” of health care. The goal of any business is to increase profit margins by raising costs and cutting expenses. In health care, that means charging more for medical services while denying customers coverage. The result has been a disaster because the system is devoid of government regulation.

Do all industrialized nations have a Single Payer system?
No, but they all have health insurance systems that are heavily regulated by the government. Great Britain, in fact, goes a step further than a Single Payer system. They have a National Health Insurance plan in which all doctors, care givers and hospitals are reimbursed by the government. Switzerland has mandated purchasing of private health insurance for all citizens, but each insurer is heavily regulated and are essentially non-profit. Each of these countries has an insurance policy that is vastly different from anything currently being discussed in the US.