Single payer system

A single payer system is a healthcare financing model that has one central entity which collects the revenue (taxation or premium payments) and disburses it to providers of care (hospitals and physicians) on behalf of all the people in the country. This allows for economies of scale in that there is only one organization responsible for all 300 million of us. By having this type of system, we can reduce the redundancy and waste that we currently experience. We can have one central computer system to handle billing and payments for providers, one set of rules and regulations, one group of actuaries and underwriters, no marketing budget, no eligibility regulations, no need for benefits consultants, no need for state offices of insurance regulation to monitor the programs, no provider consultants to help negotiate contracts with private insurers, no CEO and senior management salaries, no need to provide profits to shareholders, no duplication of corporate offices, and many other savings. More of the money contributed by taxation or insurance premiums would be spent of actual healthcare and not on overhead and profit.

Things to consider:

The entire population would have to be in the system, all 300 million of us. This would include all elected officials. This would ensure fairness and the comprehensive nature of the system.
The system would cover all comprehensive care, as in the existing Medicare system.
Private insurers could not sell insurance for this program. They could sell insurance for coverage of discretionary care such as plastic surgery.
There would be no global or regional budgets. This would protect us from having the types of problems the Canadians and the British have with long waiting periods for care.
This is not “socialized medicine”, but rather a less wasteful, more affordable program of comprehensive healthcare for all citizens. Everyone would have freedom of choice regarding which physician and hospital to use, which medication to use, and which test to have done. It would be based upon what the patient and his or her physician believe is the best course of action. This is the existing Medicare system that has served the elderly very well for more than 40 years, and is not “socialism”. This can be provided to all Americans, save large sums of money, and allow for the provision of comprehensive care for all of us.
Contrast this with our existing private insurance system. We have insurance company employees telling us when we can see a specialist, what hospital we can go to, what tests we can have, and what drugs we can use. This sounds like “socialized medicine” and is extremely costly and redundant.
A single payer system could reduce the administrative costs by $400 billion per year or about $1400 per person. If you spread the savings only over the 150 million who are actually paying for the private insurance, since this is where the savings actually accrue, the number would be about $2700 per year. This represents a 50% savings.