It took a while, but I finally saw the light in the national debate for health care reform. A single payer system, similar to Medicare but for all Americans, seems the only way to advance our health care delivery guaranteeing health care to all. Contrary to what the insurance industry wants us to believe, a single payer system is not socialized medicine. It’s more like socialized insurance – which is why it’s the insurance companies who are doing all the screaming that we don’t want reform. Here’s how a single payer system works. Congress would instigate a new payroll tax. I know everybody hates new taxes. But this one actually has some advantages. Employers would pay the bulk of it; current estimates are 12% of total payroll. This would be a savings for most employers who are now paying 16 to 20 per cent of their payroll for group insurance premiums. The employees’ portion, about 2%, would be deducted from paychecks just like any other federal tax. For a few Americans this 2% might be an increase in cost. But when you consider there would be no dependent coverage premiums, co-pays or deductibles, this would be a tremendous savings for most Americans. More money for employers and more money for employees mean a more stimulated economy, unless you’re an insurance company executive.
The federal government would not take over health care. Just like in the Medicare system, patients will have a choice of doctors. Doctors would still be in private practice and hospitals could still be privately owned. It’s just Medicare expanded. One of the biggest differences in a single payer system is that doctors’ offices and hospitals will no longer need large departments to muddle through filing claims to the over 10,000 different group policies of 3,000 different health insurance companies. Instead there will be one billing system for the one single payer, the national healthcare plan.
Of course insurance companies are fighting this because it will be the death of their industry. They don’t want to accept that they have long outlived their usefulness. They have profited from our health problems long enough. In their fight for survival they are intentionally trying to mislead Congress and all Americans. The insurance industry claims that a single payer system will eliminate patients’ choice of doctors. The reality is that now most Americans are covered by a plan their employer picked and the insurance company has a list of preferred providers. Choosing a doctor not on the list is usually cost prohibitive. So currently our insurance companies pick our doctors for us. Patients on Medicare and Medicaid have much more choice.
The insurance industry claims that Americans are afraid the government will run health care decisions, putting the government between a doctor and patient. The reality is that every day medical staffs spend hundreds of man hours on the phone with insurance companies trying to get preauthorization of treatments. Insurance companies always seem to find a way to deny or delay any treatment plans they feel are too costly. When profits versus patients, profits win. Every year Americans die because of insurance company denials of coverage, patients being underinsured or not insured. Doctors should not have to ask an insurance company clerk for permission to treat a patient. This doesn’t happen with the government run Medicare system.
Another myth of the insurance industry is that a single payer system will bankrupt the U. S. government. In reality, the cost of medical care forces thousands of Americans into bankruptcy every year. Health insurance companies administrative costs and profits average over 20%. Medicare has administrative costs of 3%. Would you rather pay $1 to an insurance company and get less than 80 cents worth of health care or pay $1 to the government and get 97 cents worth of health care? By the time we eliminate the bureaucracy and profits of greedy insurance companies, we will save money and save lives.
Now, the insurance companies are under the delusion that Americans don’t want a single payer system because we want to keep our choice of insurance companies. Raise your hand if you are really that in love with your current insurance company. Most of us don’t even have a choice of insurance providers now. It’s the employer that picks the insurance carrier.
It seems the insurance industry is guilty of all the things they say are wrong with a national healthcare plan. Health insurance companies have become the epitome of what they say we fear. It’s time to stop the insane bureaucratic waste and obscene profits of the insurance industry and return control of healthcare back to doctors and their patients. Please call or write Congress and let them know you support a single payer system that brings healthcare to all.
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