Conservatives in Canada have been fairly successful in disseminating the concept that their Medicare program is unsustainable, and that only privatization can save it. Their campaign has been downright dishonest.

The HMO in Your Future By John Goodman National Center for Policy Analysis, John Goodman’s Health Policy Blog February 28, 2011 (Brief excerpts only) … you are likely to be in an ACO (accountable care organization) at some point in the future and it’s probably going to happen sooner than you think. ACOs are sometimes [...]

To appease the Republican governors, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has attempted to reassure them that they will have considerable flexibility in qualifying insurance plans for the exchanges, in defining optional benefits for the plans, and in privatizing Medicaid. Perhaps the most alarming flexibility being granted to the governors is the ability to offer consumer-driven plans within the exchanges. Why is that a problem?

Although Congress gave up on trying to provide health insurance coverage for everyone, they did try to deliver on the promises of higher quality, fewer errors, greater efficiency, increased security of patient health information, and lower costs through measures designed to expand the use of IT (information technology), especially through EMRs (electronic medical records). Are these promises being fulfilled?

It is no surprise that so many individuals are suggesting that we may be heading toward a single payer system. It is becoming more obvious that the federal reform effort and the Massachusetts plan on which it was based have proven to be the most expensive model of reform while falling short on the goals of universality, efficiency and equity, as was predicted by those of us at PNHP and others. But these words from Terry Dougherty, director of the Medicaid program for Massachusetts, are of paramount significance since he has first hand experience with one of the cornerstones of reform – expansion of the Medicaid program.

Although California has been at the bottom of the states in Medicaid payment rates, the state legislative committees recently passed another 10 percent cut in those rates. Now they have also approved legislation to reduce rates further by the amount of these copayments, amounts that will surely be absorbed by the providers since the Medicaid population lives in poverty or near-poverty and will not be able to pay these copayments. That’s understandable when you consider that the federal poverty level for 2011 is an annual income of $10,890 for an individual.

Charles Krauthammer may be a conservative columnist, but he is very bright, having been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, and, as a Harvard-trained physician, he can speak knowledgeably about our health care system. His conclusions? Our health care system is the most expensive and wastes a lot due to its complexity and inefficiency, while Obamacare has brought us this incredible, absurd, worst-of-the-worst complexity which would not only be reduced by single payer, but single payer would also provide us with universal coverage.

California has a combined medical malpractice loss ratio of 22 percent. That is, of the very expensive malpractice insurance premiums being paid, 78 percent does not end up compensating those experiencing medical injuries but is diverted to the insurers and defense lawyers. This is yet one more of a multitude of reasons why our tort system is serving these injured individuals so poorly.

In choosing to base reform on private insurance plans, our policy makers introduced an administrative complexity that that would have been totally unnecessary had they selected instead a universal risk pool funded equitably through taxes. The private insurance model requires that a specific premium be assigned to each individual or family, even though those premiums are no longer affordable for the majority of us. Thus they had to devise a very complex system of subsidies to lessen the financial burden of premiums (though still unaffordable for many even with the subsidies).

They say that you should not use anecdotes to make policy, but when the policy science we know supports the millions of anecdotes Americans have regarding our “evil” ways in health care, it is time to use them to make policy. Just ask Justin Bieber’s bodyguard.