We have been struggling with our healthcare system since the Orange Menace, President Donald Trump, was elected into power. We are one of the only first-world nations that doesn’t have single-payer healthcare. This would be the equivalent of having Medicare for everyone in our country instead of having to deal with private insurance companies.
Under the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, over 20 million people have gotten insurance who did not have it before. Former Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said:
“When it comes to the key metrics of affordability, access, and quality, the evidence shows that the Affordable Care Act is working, and families, businesses and taxpayers are better off as a result.”
What Is It And How Would It Differ From Our Current System?
Single-payer healthcare is a system in which one entity finances all of the healthcare costs for a country. Usually, it’s the government, but that is not always the case.
Currently, we have a hugely complicated healthcare system. There are various networks of doctors and hospitals and pharmacies. Most of us have to go through middlemen insurance companies to get coverage. There are high premiums for care, then you still have to pay copays when you actually go to the doctor. We have some public programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
A single-payer system would make this easier by disconnecting our coverage from our jobs or our parents’ jobs or our partners’ jobs. If we implemented it here, it would be covered under the federal budget that is earmarked for Medicare and Medicaid.
Could It Happen Here?
We currently have a single-payer legislation in Congress. It would:
- Everyone would receive comprehensive health care coverage under single-payer;
- Care would be based on need, not on ability to pay;
- Employers would no longer be responsible for health care costs and coverage decisions;
- Single-payer would reduce costs by 24 percent, saving $829 billion in the first year by cutting administrative waste and allowing negotiation of prescription drugs.
- Single-payer would create savings for 95 percent of the population. Only the top 5 perfect would pay slightly more.
Here is Seth Meyer taking a closer look at single-payer healthcare:
Also, here is John Oliver talking about Obamacare:
Featured image by 401(K) 2012 via Flickr/CC-By-SA-2.0 license.
