4 ms·
That description makes the NHS sound like a two-tiered system, not a single-payer system. Digging into this on Wikipedia[1][2] and seeing the same health syste
by vonmoltke 7y ago
That description makes the NHS sound like a two-tiered system, not a single-payer system. Digging into this on Wikipedia[1][2] and seeing the same health systems referred to as "single-payer" and "two-tier" depending on the context now has me royally confused about what "single-payer" actually means.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_healthcare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_healthcare
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-tier_healthcare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-tier_healthcare
- tomp 7y agoI don't think that "single payer" means anything concrete at all... it's just a question of, can a "normal person" get most of his potential medical needs covered without paying through the nose, going bankrupt, getting substantially sub-standard service, etc. For example, AFAIK in Switzerland, it's again completely different - everyone is obliged to buy medical insurance (privately, employers cannot offer it), hospitals (and insurance companies) are private, what you get depends on how much you pay (though everyone gets really good care, it's more like, do you share a room with other patients or not), the government covers if you're too poor to pay... Is this single payer or not? It doesn't matter, as long as most everyone is covered and happy. (Admittedly, Switzerland is in a privileged position with high salaries and cost of living, being the world's bank... not sure if other countries can afford to replicate their system.)