Which Countries Have Single-Payer Health Systems?

[ehrnst]

51. That's where you are misunderstanding.

"you are attempting to make it seem he is not in favor of a single payer system."

No, I never did. You jumped to that conclusion.

Look at the title of my OP. OK?

Now, look at the actual text that I pulled from the article - it talks about Single Payer and that it would cost more than it would in the two other countries where it has been implemented. (I can copy and paste too!)

Which Countries Have Single-Payer Health Systems?

There are fewer than many people might think. Most European countries either never had or no longer have single-payer systems. "Most are basically what we call social insurance systems," says Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has studied international health systems. Social insurance programs ensure that almost everyone is covered. They are taxpayer-funded but aren't necessarily run by the government.

Germany, for example, has 135 "sickness funds," which are essentially private, nonprofit insurance plans that negotiate prices with health care providers. "So you have 135 funds to choose from," said Anderson.

Nearby, Switzerland and the Netherlands require their residents to have private insurance (just like the Affordable Care Act does), with subsidies to help those who cannot otherwise afford coverage.

And while conservatives in the United States often use Great Britain's National Health Service as the poster child for a socialized system, there are many private insurance options available to residents there, too.

As far as countries that have true single-payer systems, Anderson lists only two: Canada and Taiwan.

Are Single-Payer Plans Less Expensive Than Other Health Coverage Systems?

Not necessarily. True, eliminating the profits and duplicative administrative costs associated with hundreds of different private insurance plans would reduce spending, perhaps as much as 10 percent of the nation's $3 trillion annual health care bill, says Anderson. But, he notes, once those savings are achieved, there wouldn't be further reductions afterward.

More important, as many analysts have noted, is how much health services cost and how those prices are determined. In most other developed countries, even those with private insurance, writes Princeton health economist Uwe Reinhardt, prices "either are set by government or negotiated between associations of insurers and providers of care on a regional, state or national basis." By contrast, in the U.S., "the payment side of the health care market in the private sector is fragmented, weakening the bargaining power of individual insurers."

Is that clearer?