By Sachin Jindal
The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade, Letters, May 9, 2020
To prepare for a future pandemic, it is clear that the United States must transition to a federally funded single-payer health-care system.
Only under a system where individuals can seek care without fearing for their wallets can we have a country where people don’t unnecessarily fear for their lives. Our current system serves as a deterrent to care and endangers everyone.
An insurance system that is tied to employment is flawed and dangerous in any scenario in which the economy is disrupted as this pandemic shows.
Millions are newly unemployed and, therefore, will lose their employer-sponsored health care. This adds whole new layers of uncertainty to an already shaky system and will endanger lives.
The American health-care system is famously the most expensive in the world. And as this pandemic illustrates, we are not getting a good deal for our money.
A large part of our spending goes to overhead for health insurance and other health-care conglomerates. This money does nothing to keep us healthier.
Medicare has far lower overhead and patients on Medicare generally are happier with their care than those on private insurance, despite what politicians across the spectrum will have you believe.
A single-payer health-care system is the best way to prepare for a pandemic because it addresses each of the major concerns listed above, and is the only solution that does so.