By James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, Joseph S. Alpert, MD
The American Journal of Medicine
July 2008
National health insurance covers the entire population of many European countries at a much lower cost than US health care. Could such a system of national health insurance work in the US? We already have such a system — it is called Medicare, and it has worked very well for more than 40 years! Medicare pays the private sector to deliver quality health care to more than 44 million Americans. Those who stick with traditional Medicare have free choice of physicians and hospitals. Nearly every US physician and nearly every hospital in the US has elected to participate in Medicare.
In a 2003 Pew poll, 67% favored government guaranteed national health insurance even if meant higher taxes, and a 2007 New York Times/CBS poll reported that 64% stated that the Federal government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans. Maybe the American people are ahead of their legislators!
http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0002-9343/PIIS0002934308002465.pdf
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
Reading a message in support of a Medicare-like national health insurance program is certainly not a new experience for single payer advocates. What is astonishing is that this was published in “the green journal,” The American Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical publications in this nation. Furthermore, it was coauthored by the Editor-in-Chief, Joseph Alpert.
National health insurance is no longer a fringe concept. The American people have made it mainstream. It has become an imperative. We now need to elect legislators who understand that.