Single-payer system would save money and lives

By Richard Weiskopf, M.D.
Letters, The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.), Jan. 23, 2011
 
With all the discussion about health care reform, including Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle’s (R-N.Y.) advocating repeal, I would like to cite three points researched and published (but not publicized enough) by Physicians for a National Health Program, which continues to advocate for national single-payer reform, and of which I am a member.
 
1. Administrative costs consume 31 percent of U.S. health spending, most of it unnecessary. The United States could save enough on administrative expenses (nearly $400 billion annually) with a single-payer system to cover all the uninsured.
 
2. Medical bills contribute to more than 60 percent of all bankruptcies. Three-fourths of those bankrupted had health insurance at the time they got sick.
 
3. Nearly 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of health insurance. The uninsured do not receive all the medical care they need – the live sicker and die younger. Those most in need of preventive services are least likely to receive them.