By Don Finley
San Antonio Express-News, March 9, 2012

If President Obama’s health care reform act is fully implemented over the next two years, it will evolve into a Canadian-style single-payer system that will forever change the social contract between Americans and their government, a nationally syndicated columnist and physician predicted.

“It will change the country. If it is not repealed, we will be a different country when ‘Obamacare’ is fully implemented,” (Washington Post columnist and Fox News commentator Charles) Krauthammer said in an interview after speaking Thursday to a receptive crowd of mostly physicians and other health care professionals at a breakfast sponsored by the San Antonio Medical Foundation.

In his speech, Krauthammer predicted the complexity of the law eventually would doom it to failure, which would lead to a single-payer system within a decade.

“This is a new reform that when it kicks in within a couple of years will make the practice of medicine a nightmare,” he said. “If it’s not repealed, I guarantee you that within a decade we will have a single-payer system. And if I had to choose between Obamacare and a Canadian or British system, I’d choose the single-payer system. At least it would be rational.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Columnist-If-Obamacare-implemented-single-payer-3392700.php

And…

On the $1,000 Genome and the Future of Health Systems

By Reihan Salam
National Review Online, March 8, 2012

Back in 2009, I wrote a column that pivoted off of a really good 2007 column by economist Stephen Cecchetti which argued that the genomics revolution made single-payer inevitable. At the time, I argued that while the genomics revolution didn’t make single-payer inevitable, it would push health systems in the advanced market democracies towards a more coherent system for protecting against chronic illnesses and catastrophic medical expenditures.

Razib Khan, my go-to writer on these matters, adds the following: (Comments on the $1000 genome available at the link below)…

That is, the $1,000 genome will accelerate the growth of a broader innovative ecology that will transform medicine. Razib, incidentally, is a rare right-of-center supporter of single-payer health systems, and I’d love to hear his thoughts on the subject.

http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/293003/1000-genome-and-future-health-systems-reihan-salam

Comment: 

By Don McCanne, MD

Many conservatives have a good understanding of the beneficial features of the single payer model of health care financing, and several believe that it may be an inevitable imperative. As Charles Krauthammer states, “And if I had to choose between Obamacare and a Canadian or British system, I’d choose the single-payer system. At least it would be rational.”

Columnist: If ‘Obamacare’ implemented, single-payer is next

By Don Finley
San Antonio Express-News, March 9, 2012
If President Obama’s health care reform act is fully implemented over the next two years, it will evolve into a Canadian-style single-payer system that will forever change the social contract between Americans and their government, a nationally syndicated columnist and physician predicted.
“It will change the country. If it is not repealed, we will be a different country when ‘Obamacare’ is fully implemented,” (Washington Post columnist and Fox News commentator Charles) Krauthammer said in an interview after speaking Thursday to a receptive crowd of mostly physicians and other health care professionals at a breakfast sponsored by the San Antonio Medical Foundation.
In his speech, Krauthammer predicted the complexity of the law eventually would doom it to failure, which would lead to a single-payer system within a decade.
“This is a new reform that when it kicks in within a couple of years will make the practice of medicine a nightmare,” he said. “If it’s not repealed, I guarantee you that within a decade we will have a single-payer system. And if I had to choose between Obamacare and a Canadian or British system, I’d choose the single-payer system. At least it would be rational.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Columnist-If-Obamacare-implemented-single-payer-3392700.php

And…

On the $1,000 Genome and the Future of Health Systems

By Reihan Salam
National Review Online, March 8, 2012
Back in 2009, I wrote a column that pivoted off of a really good 2007 column by economist Stephen Cecchetti which argued that the genomics revolution made single-payer inevitable. At the time, I argued that while the genomics revolution didn’t make single-payer inevitable, it would push health systems in the advanced market democracies towards a more coherent system for protecting against chronic illnesses and catastrophic medical expenditures.
Razib Khan, my go-to writer on these matters, adds the following: (Comments on the $1000 genome available at the link below)…
That is, the $1,000 genome will accelerate the growth of a broader innovative ecology that will transform medicine. Razib, incidentally, is a rare right-of-center supporter of single-payer health systems, and I’d love to hear his thoughts on the subject.
http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/293003/1000-genome-and-future-health-systems-reihan-salam

Many conservatives have a good understanding of the beneficial features of the single payer model of health care financing, and several believe that it may be an inevitable imperative. As Charles Krauthammer states, “And if I had to choose between Obamacare and a Canadian or British system, I’d choose the single-payer system. At least it would be rational.”