CaPA’s Tarzynski sets record straight on single payer

By Steve Tarzynski
Los Angeles Times, September 27, 2017

From my decades of experience as a doctor, it seems to me that no market-driven healthcare system can simultaneously limit costs, guarantee universal coverage and deliver desired outcomes. Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that the best way to reduce costs and guarantee healthcare to everyone is to have the largest risk pool — that is, the entire nation. These facts compel the United States to move to a single-payer system guided by comparisons with other countries’ experiences and by our own American successes, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The preamble of our Constitution states that government exists to provide “domestic tranquility” and “promote the general welfare,” which certainly suggests constitutional support for healthcare for all.

Steve Tarzynski is a physician and president of the California Physicians Alliance.

http://www.latimes.com…

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

Because of an editorial glitch in a previous Los Angeles Times op-ed by Steve Tarzynski, there was some confusion over the relative positions of PNHP California and California Physicians Alliance on the goal of single payer. His followup message could not be more clear. We remain partners in the quest for health care justice for all. In fact, many of us, including me, belong to both organizations.

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