Myths and Lies About Single Payer

I. Single Payer Is Socialized Medicine
* The Veterans Administration and the British health care system are  examples of socialized medicine, where the government pays for the doctors and hospitals.
* Under single payer, you get a health care card and you can go to any doctor or hospital in the United States.
* Doctors are not employees of the government.
* Hospitals remain in private hands.

II. Single Payer Will Lead to Rationing, Like in Canada
* The present private insurance companies ration care.
* If you don't have health insurance, you don't get health care, except as a matter of charity.
* Public Citizen says that 120 Americans die every day from lack of health care, while no Canadians die due to lack of health insurance.

III. Costs Will Skyrocket Under Single Payer
* Single payer is the only health care reform that will save enough money to insure everyone.
* Public Citizen says that by eliminating the health insurance industry, $350 billion will be saved in administrative costs and profits.
* The savings an be used to insure those who lack health insurance and fully cover those who are under-insured.
* More people will be seeking health care because they will now have insurance; also, medical problems will be discovered earlier, thus preventing more costly treatment later.

IV. Drugs Will Be More Difficult to Get Under Single Payer
* The drug industry claims there will be less research and development under a single payer system; however, much medical research is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health.
* Under single payer, research and development will grow.
* Drugs will be cheaper under single payer, because when all patients are under one system, the payer wields a lot of clout.
* The single payer system is the main reason why other countries' drug prices are lower than ours.

V. Single Payer Will Cover Less Than Current Insurance
* For most Americans, single payer will be a vast improvement.
* All medically necessary care would be funded through the single payer, including doctor visits, hospital care, prescriptions, mental health services, nursing home care, and rehabilitation care.
* Under single payer there will be no deductions, no bills and no co-pays.

VI. Single Payer Will Cost More Than Private Health Insurance
* The vast majority of Americans will pay about the same or less than they are paying now.
* If funded through the federal income tax, many taxpayers will receive a financial windfall, because their increase in taxes will be less than the cost of their current health insurance. I will show in a future blog how this would be the case.

NOTE: Most of the information presented was taken from a Public Citizen fact sheet but I have made some modifications in it.