Some good arguments for Single Payer

This article from the Asheville Citizen Times makes a good case for exploring Single Payer. The mainstream media seems to have gotten over its reluctance to talk about national health insurance as a viable alternative.

We can address our health care crisis, or we can outsource it

... Recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that compared health care spending in 30 industrialized nations put the annual average health bill for an American is $5,267. That’s more than double the world median of $2,193.

Now, the U.S. has the best doctors, nurses and health care professionals on the planet. But we are nowhere near having the best health care system. Despite the aforementioned lavish spending, millions of our citizens are underinsured and a growing number – 46 million – have no insurance at all.

Further, we’re toward the bottom on infant mortality, life expectancy and a host of other measures among industrialized nations.

What’s more, a relatively new phenomenon, medical debt, is reaching alarming levels. A study by the Commonwealth Fund showed nearly 20 percent of Americans are paying off medical debts. Among middle class Americans who are underinsured, according to a survey conducted by Reader’s Digest, almost half have refused or delayed medical treatments for serious conditions, or put off or didn’t renew prescriptions for drugs. Half had used credit cards to pay health costs.

This is despite health spending in this nation that represents 14.6 percent of the Gross National Product (compared to 7.7 percent in the United Kingdom).

We’re spending plenty. We’re not spending wisely. ...

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