by Sandy » Tue Apr 18, 2017 8:15 am
Other than the fuzzy numbers right wing media, most of the analysis that has been done on various options for universal health care/single payer/government operated insurance and medical care proposals show most options to be much less expensive than the current per-capita cost of insurance and medical care. It's not a reinvention of the wheel, either. Medicare in this country works, the sheer volume of business that it produces ensures that it is widely accepted at the rates it negotiates. There's a model to look at and which could be expanded. Canada's program is also called Medicare, and since it works, and it is difficult for the right wing media in this country to find Canadians who are unhappy with it, you don't hear much about it. Statistically, the quality is comparable to what you find in the US, the pay for health care professionals is a little better, and the per-patient cost is about half of what it is in the US. There are plenty of other examples of successful systems in most industrialized countries.
The health care/insurance "industry" raked in over 3 trillion in 2016, while for-profit health care providers and insurance companies earned a little over 1 trillion in profit, not including "costs" that aren't directly related to medical care (administrative, construction, R & D, advertising). The profits are records under the ACA by the way, dispelling completely the myth that it is "collapsing." Theoretically, if the whole system was switched over to a single payer, government administered program, using the existing infrastructure, it would free up $1.3 trillion into the economy. A FICA payroll deduction of 3-5% would cover the remaining costs of providing care, not counting the savings in "costs".