PNHP letter to Sen. Baucus, Senate Finance Committee
November 18, 2008
The Honorable Max Baucus
Chairman, Finance Committee
U.S. Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Baucus,
Physicians for a National Health Program respectfully requests an opportunity for one or more of our members to testify about the merits of single-payer national health insurance (as embodied in the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676, which currently has the support of over 90 member of Congress) at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearings titled “Healthcare Reform: An Economic Perspective.”
Single-payer health reform, sometimes characterized as an improved “Medicare for All,” is the only reform model that offers $400 billion in annual savings in administrative costs. It is the only approach that contains effective cost-containment provisions, such as bulk purchasing and global budgeting. Such economies would allow for expanding health coverage to everyone — with no co-pays or deductibles — with no overall increase in health care spending.
The single-payer model is the only fiscally prudent proposal available, an especially important consideration at a time of economic distress. By basing itself (and improving upon) Medicare, it presents itself as a uniquely American way of guaranteeing care to all who need it. Such an approach has proven its effectiveness.
With a single-payer national health insurance program we can assure lifelong, high quality, comprehensive and affordable coverage for everyone. Such a program will lift the heavy burden of crushing medical expenses off the shoulders of our population, expenses that often lead to personal bankruptcy. And we can save lives: the Institute of Medicine estimates that more than 18,000 Americans die each year from lack of health insurance.
From the standpoint of what benefits our patients, single payer is the health policy model that best reflects their needs and values.
Support for single payer is extensive. In a peer-reviewed statistical study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 59 percent of U.S. physicians said they would support government action to establish national health insurance. In a recent Associated Press poll, 65 percent of the respondents said, “The United State should adopt a universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxes.”
In addition, over 480 labor organizations, including 39 state federations of the AFL-CIO, have endorsed single payer legislation, as have numerous professional associations, city and state governments, and religious denominations.
We therefore expect that single-payer proponents will be invited to testify before the Committee and we look forward to your affirmative response. You can telephone me at (312) 782-6006 or reach me via e-mail at info@pnhp.org.
Sincerely,
Quentin Young, MD, MACP
National Coordinator
Physicians for a National Health Program
cc: Senate Finance Committee members