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Single-payer is a bit more nuanced than "government pays the bills". Single-payer means that health care institutions remain private, government does not run o
by potatolicious 14y ago
Single-payer is a bit more nuanced than "government pays the bills".
Single-payer means that health care institutions remain private, government does not run or employ any doctors directly, and everything works much like it does today, except pricing is unified and the government pays all bills.
This is different from nationalized health care, especially on paper, where it can preserve market-style competitive pressure that a wholly nationalized system would not. Doctors and hospitals would still be on the hook for attracting customers.
- tptacek 14y agoIt's different from nationalized health care mostly on paper, because it gives the government monopsony power over the market. The single-payer administration can rule out treatments, mandate questionable treatments, and make for itself important value judgements about end-of-life routine care vs. mid-life cost of emergency care. We have hints of the problems that come from this now with things like the Medicare "doc fix". Beyond all that, single-payer fixes prices for an industry that represents a huge chunk of the total economy. No question at all that we badly need a new system of health insurance in the US (I'm hoping that Obamacare, carefully and aggressively executed, will be it), but single-payer health care is a radical change.