Analysis of the Costs and Impact of Universal Health Care Coverage Under a Single Payer Model for the State of Vermont
Please excuse the apparent insensitivity of the timing of the "Quote of the Day" message. I have just learned of the tragedies in New York and Washington and share with all of you our profound grief.
Don
Prepared for: The Vermont HRSA State Planning Grant, Office of Vermont Health
Access Prepared by: The Lewin Group, Inc. - John F. Shiels and Randall A. Haught
August 28, 2001
"Our analysis indicates that the single payer model would cover all Vermont residents, including the estimated 51,390 uninsured persons in the state, while actually reducing total health spending in Vermont by about $118.1 million in 2001 (i.e., five percent). These savings are attributed primarily to the lower cost of administering coverage through a single government program with uniform coverage and payment rules."
"... the budgeting process for the single-payer program is likely to emerge as a powerful cost containment tool."
The entire report is available at: <http://www.dsw.state.vt.us/districts/ovha/AnalysisoftheCosts.pdf>http://www.dsw.state.vt.us/districts/ovha/AnalysisoftheCosts.pdf
Comment: Our health care system remains in turmoil primarily because we have been unable to contain costs, and all of our efforts to do so have created even greater problems and have failed to adequately address the major inequities inherent in our system. Now we have yet another study that demonstrates that we can contain costs while providing comprehensive health care coverage for everyone. How many studies do we need before the "controlling authorities" will allow us to bring the single payer concept to the negotiating tables? How many studies do we need before the media will begin to routinely include input from single payer advocates to provide balance (and color) to the articles reporting the defects in our current fragmented system, defects that single payer will cure? How many studies do we need to convince the public that it is time to dump the rhetorical lies and seriously address the real issues in health care?
Soon we will have the results of yet another study, from California, the Health Care Options Project. It will be unique in that not only will single payer reform be studied, but several other models will be prepared and submitted to a microsimulation process. The process will be completed in February. Will this be another report that will demonstrate the superiority of the single payer method, only to be filed away with all of the other reports? Or, maybe this time, shouldn't we consider sitting down and devising the strategy to convert single payer into reality?
The California Health Care Options Project site: <http://www.healthcareoptions.ca.gov/>http://www.healthcareoptions.ca.gov/