National Health Care

A single payer national health insurance program can save billions of dollars.

Many advocates of health care reform have put forth the idea of a single payer national health insurance program as a fiscally responsible method to ensure Americans get adequate health care and medical treatment. In a single payer system, a government agency controls health financing, while the actual practice of medicine remains private. The state controlled health program would save billions of dollars on administrative costs, by streamlining operations and creating synergy between the various hospitals and doctors contracted to provide health care for all Americans. Under the current system, for profit insurance companies waste vast sums of money on marketing, billing, collection, executive pay, and the costly underwriting process. Hospitals are forced to hire people to deal with this excess, all of which in turn drives health care costs skyward, making adequate health care coverage a luxury for some lower income families.

The single payer system of national health insurance would ensure all Americans are completely covered for all medical services, such as dental, vision, mental health, hospital visits, prescription medicines, and preventative care. Under this system, patients would be able to choose their doctors, and the doctors would be able to control their patient's care, without an undue influence from insurance companies, who often seek to limit or curtail expensive treatment. Doctors will be paid a salary, and the national health agency would purchase the necessary equipment and organize their effective uses.

Many critics are quick to point out that a single payer national health insurance program isn't feasible because of the costs. Advocates counter that the tremendous amount of waste that private insurance companies generated would, when saved, provide ample operating funds for the national health insurance system. The money that private insurance firms spend on claim analysis and advertising would obviously be rendered moot by a national health insurance program controlled by the government. Purchasing medical supplies in large quantities, so as to get a cheaper rate, can also decrease medical costs. Also Nationally budgeting and rationing out medical services and supplies will make for a much more efficient method of distributing health care.

Medical professionals unions want to make sure that doctors, nurses, and specialists are adequately compensated so as to ensure an incentive for quality results. They are not, however, blind to the struggles of the insured and want all Americans to have health care. It is, of course, in their best interests, as the more people able to receive health means the more money that is generated through medical procedures, which in turn means more money for medical professionals.

Some taxes would be necessary to ensure a workable operating budget, but it would not be the de-habilitating expense that some conservatives fear could make public health care more of a burden than a benefit. There will of course initially be a greater procession of expenses in the early stages of transition, but this is necessary to facilitate a smooth change from the current privately held insurance system to the much more progressive single payer national health insurance system.

Summary: A single payer health insurance program can ensure complete coverage for all Americans, through elimination of wasteful expenses.