By Jay Brock, M.D.
Fredericksburg (Virginia) Star, Letters, Jan. 14, 2019
Single-payer coverage would reduce waste in U.S. health care
A recent editorial cartoon in The Free Lance– Star about health care spending brings up an interesting point: How much money we waste on our current vastly expensive and woefully inefficient multiple payer system.
Of the approximately $3.5 trillion we spend on “health care” each year, the American health insurance system wastes more than half a trillion of that in excessive administrative, profit and marketing costs, including some of the highest prices for medications in the world.
If we had a single-payer system, where there are no more insurance companies, no more co-pays, and no more deductibles, we would be able to spend that half-trillion-plus on actual health care for patients.
The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without universal health care coverage. Single payer/national improved Medicare for All will fix this, and end all this waste.
Isn’t it about time we caught up with the rest of the advanced nations of the world, where everyone is covered by a health insurance system (such as single-payer) that is designed for the benefit of the patient, not the insurance industry?