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In reply to the discussion: Anger in Sweden as elderly pay price for coronavirus strategy [View all]LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)From your article:
In most cases, universal coverage and a single-payer system go hand-in-hand, because a country's federal government is the most likely candidate to administer and pay for a health care system covering millions of people.
My main point was in all those examples, universal healthcare coverage is a federal law. It is not in the US.
If some want to parse it that its not single payer, as its not always a pure government run system through taxes, fine. But it is SP in all practical terms, as they are all supported by a mandated individual contributions from all working citizens. As well, all private insurers are bound by federal overseen standards, .... no preconditions exemption for example. And with everyone mandated to contribute, even private administered systems can afford to absorb that.
Again, its more about a national legislated program, with minimum care standards required by law across the country, as Switzerland, Japan, Germany have, than how it is divided up to be paid for between taxes and premiums.
If you can't afford the payments in Switzerland there is a government subsidy program as well.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/us---swiss-health-series_caring-for-those-who-cannot-afford-health-coverage/43716470
In Switzerland, people with modest means may struggle to pay for basic health coverage for two simple reasons: insurance premiums are not adjusted to income, and they have doubled in price since 1996, while salaries have risen by just one-fifth. It comes as no surprise, then, that just over a quarter of the population needed government assistance to pay their premiums in 2014.
Gee, I wonder why they are just below the US in terms of efficiency, as per the graph above.
Personally, I think the USA's "State's Rights!" law in the 10th amendment, and the way it can be used in court, is probably the biggest hurdle. So many are in deathly fear of the federal government running anything. Maybe for good reason, but that fear has seemingly only grown in a lot of places.