A Single Payer Plan?

With the healthcare system -including Medicare - being as out of kilter as it is, there have been many suggestions as to how to make it work more efficiently and turn it into a system that can last and help many more people for a long time.
Social Security and Medicare work beautifully for the majority of enrollees and they provide at least some security and medical care to millions of American families who would otherwise go without, especially now in hard economic times.

More and more people are asking President Obama to look into supporting a "single payer'' health plan, assuring universal health care in this country.
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Usually, the single payer is a government agency that provides one-stop health coverage. In contrast, the American system of paying for health care has been called a chaotic maze of health providers, private insurance plans with wide variations in coverage, deductibles, co-pays, and a confusing and frustrating situation for the individuals who need the coverage and are trying to figure it out.

Many lawmakers are saying that an effective way for the U.S. to move toward a single payer plan would be to expand Medicare to everyone. The smart idea in this is that it would not be free. If you are working, some of your taxes could pay for the premium, and there are other ways to offset the expenses.

At present, the White House stated that a single payer system was not acceptable to the Obama administration.at this time
because the goal of the president's health care reform objective was "to cut costs for families that are watching their premiums and their co-payments and their deductibles skyrocket.''

Experts who have compared the various plans say a government-run single payer plan would be less expensive than private insurance. There would be less overhead and no marketing costs and no compulsion to rack up profits.

There are some 47 million people without health insurance -- and thousands more are losing their health benefits with their jobs.

There are a number of proposals being presented in Congress that would provide health insurance coverage for every person in the United States. They would provide all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, as well as dental, mental health, physical therapy, hearing and vision aids and long term care. And though each one is a little different in the details, 6 or 7 of these proposals are for single payer plan.

Filed under: General-Medicare

Tags: Congress, General-Medicare, Health Care Reform, Lawmakers and Health Insurance, medicare coverage, Single Payer Plan