Single Payer Healthcare

By Pierce K. Kozlowski

The Breakdown

The AAFP Foundation defines the Single-Payer System, or the National Health Insurance Model, as a compulsory insurance policy framework, which would stipulate that all citizens pay into a publicly financed program [funded by income taxes], with the state being the fund holder and the government contracting to both public and private-sector healthcare providers on behalf of the insurance recipient.

To put it more simply, the nation’s legislators create a government program funded by people’s income taxes, and the program becomes an insurance coverage people have to buy into. This insurance coverage pays for the cost of medical services of everyone who is insured. And the costs of these medical bills are covered by the income-tax funding that was injected into the program. Furthermore, an insured individual can choose whether they receive medical treatment from a privately or publicly funded hospital, or a private business that is a non-profit institution.

Two Benefits, One Drawback

The benefit of this system is that it allows individuals to have control over their healthcare plans because they can choose which hospital or doctor they receive service from. This means this system allows for higher quality medical services. The drawback of this system is that it is incredibly expensive because hospitals, healthcare facilities, and doctors have full negotiation power over their contracts. This means this system is not an affordable program, but is still universal. Essentially, the Single-Payer System gives provisions for universality and quality at the expense of affordability.

Who Uses It?

However, many nations within European regions, spanning from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, all use a single-payer system. Even in the United Kingdom, England once utilized this healthcare blueprint before they passed the Health and Social Care Act of 2012.

References

1. Princeton University. "Health Care Reform: Learning from Other Major Health Care Systems," Accessed June 27, 2021.

2. Liu, Jodi L, and Robert H Brook. “What is Single-Payer Health Care? A Review of Definitions and Proposals in the U.S.” Journal of general internal medicine vol. 32,7 (2017): 822-831. doi:10.1007/s11606-017-4063-5

3. “Health Care for All: A Framework for Moving to a PRIMARY Care-Based Health Care System in the United States.” AAFP Home, 12 Dec. 2019, www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/health-care-for-all.html.

4. Markowitz W, McLeod-Sordjan R. Values-Based Foundation for a U.S. Single Payer Health System Model. Front Sociol. 2021 Apr 28;6:627560. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.627560. PMID: 33996990; PMCID: PMC8113613.

5. Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D. “Single-Payer Is Not the Solution to America's Health Care Problems.” The Heritage Foundation, 17 Nov. 2020.

6. Aaron, Henry J. “The Impossible (Pipe) Dream-Single-Payer Health Reform.” Brookings, Brookings, 22 Apr. 2019.