[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Bernie Sanders: A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the cure for America's ailing healthcare

[Caroline Yacoub]

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From: shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
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Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 3:22 PM
Subject: Bernie Sanders: A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the  cure for America's ailing healthcare
  


Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:15:38
-0700
>Subject: Bernie Sanders: A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the
cure for America's ailing healthcare
>From: Thomas Scott Tucker <scott at tstucker.com>
>
>
>
>
>A single-payer system, like Medicare, is the cure for America's
ailing healthcare
>
>Obamacare's reforms are a welcome but small step. To give all Americans
healthcare as a right, we need a fair, efficient solution
>Bernie
Sanders 
>theguardian.com, Monday 30
September 2013
>
>I start my approach to healthcare from two very basic premises. First,
healthcare must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man,
woman and child in our country should be able to access the healthcare
they need regardless of their income. Second, we must create a national
healthcare system that provides quality healthcare for all in the most
cost-effective way possible.
>
>Tragically, the United
States is failing in both areas.
>
>It is unconscionable that in one of the most advanced nations in the
world, there are nearly 50 million people who lack health insurance and millions more who have burdensome co-payments and deductibles. In fact, some 45,000 Americans die each year because they do not get to a doctor
when they should. In terms of life expectancy, infant mortality and
otherhealth outcomes, the United States lags behind almost every other
advanced country.
>
>Despite this unimpressive record, the US spends almost
twice as much per person on healthcare as any other nation. As a
result of an incredibly wasteful, bureaucratic, profit-making and
complicated system, the US spends 17% of its gross domestic product – approximately $2.7tn
annually– on healthcare. While insurance companies, drug companies, private hospitals and medical equipment suppliers make huge profits, Americans spend more
and get less for their healthcare dollars.
>
>What should the US be doing to improve this abysmal situation?
>
>President Obama's Affordable Care Act is a start. It prevents insurance
companies from denying patients coverage for pre-existing
conditions, allows people up to age 26 to stay on their parents' insurance, sets minimum
standards for what insurance must cover and helps lower-income Americans
afford health insurance. When the marketplace exchanges open for enrollment on Tuesday, many Americans will find the premiums will be lower than the ones they're paying now. Others will
find the coverage is much more comprehensive than their current
plans.
>
>Most importantly, another 20 million Americans will receive health
insurance. This is a modest step forward. But if we are serious about
providing quality care for all, much more needs to be done.
>
>The only long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis is a
single-payer national healthcare program.
>
>The good news is that, in fact, a large-scale single-payer system already
exists in the United States and its enrollees love it. It is called Medicare. Open to
all Americans over 65 years of age, the program has been a resounding
success since its introduction 48 years ago. Medicare should be expanded
to cover all Americans.
>
>Such a single-payer system would address one of the major deficiencies in
the current system: the huge amount of money wasted on billing and administration. Hospitals and independent
medical practices routinely employ more billing specialists than doctors
– and that's not the end of it. Patients and their families spend an enormous amount of time and effort arguing with
insurance companies and bill collectors over what is covered and what
they owe. Drug companies and hospitals spend billions advertising their
products and services.
>
>Creating a simple system with one payer, covering all Americans, would
result in an enormous reduction in administrative expenses. We would be
spending our money on healthcare and disease prevention, not on
paper-pushing and debt collection.
>
>Further, a single-payer system will expand employment opportunities and
lift a financial weight off of businesses encumbered by employee health
expenses. Many Americans remain at their current jobs because of the
decent health insurance provided by their employer. Without the worry of
losing benefits, those Americans will be free to explore other, more
productive opportunities as they desire. For business owners, lifting the
burden of employee healthcare expenditures will free them to invest in growing
their businesses.
>
>Congressman Jim McDermott and I have introduced the American
Health Security Act. Our bill will provide every American with
healthcare coverage and services through a state-administered,
single-payer program, including dental and mental health coverage and
low-cost prescription drugs. It would require the government to develop
national policies and guidelines, as well as minimum national criteria,
while giving each state the flexibility to adapt the program as needed.
It would also completely overhaul the health coverage system, creating a
single federal payer of state-administered health plans.
>
>The American people understand that our current healthcare system is not
working. But the time is long overdue for them to understand that there
is something fundamentally wrong when the US remains the only country in
the industrialized world that does not guarantee healthcare to all its
people.
>
>Healthcare is a right and we must ensure provision of that right for
Americans. A single-payer system will be good for the average American,
good for businesses, good for workers and good for our overall
economy.
> 
> 
>************************************************
> 
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