Sadly, single-payer health care systems work for very few, if any. While on paper the proposition looks fair, in reality it is not what health care should ever become. The letter writer who opined that other countries have better health care as a result of single-payer might want to do some research (“Replace Obamacare with Medicare for everyone,” May 19 Herald).
Currently, in the UK, there are hospitals who are moving to ration care for “anyone who has a body mass index of 30 or more and for smokers.” So, if you are diagnosed with cancer and are a bit obese, you will probably not get surgery. Health care costs have soared in most countries with single-payer systems because there is now no competition among providers, drugs or suppliers. And, who pays those increasing costs? Taxpayers! There are also strict limits on cataract surgery (want to wait more than five years?) and hip and knee operations. What if you had to wait over a year or two to begin chemo or radiation for cancer? Or what if your age determined whether you got care or not?
Last year, the the U.K.’s National Health Service lost $3.2 billion (3 times larger than loss the year before). Doctors are fearful that brutal reductions will be the norm. For patients, your doctor is hired by the government not you and your treatments (for the ones you may still get) are decided by government “central planning” bureaucrats, not you! Doesn’t sound very healthy to me.
But, let’s look at our own example of government run health care – the Veterans Administration. No problems there! But in 2014 a $16 billion fix called the Veterans Choice and Accountability Act was passed to get veterans medical care more quickly. How is it working? A spokesman for the House Committee on Veterans Affairs said: “It was a money grab, with no plan on where to put people.” The act didn’t even correct any of the problems with health care for veterans.
If you want to ruin U.S. health care? Make it single-payer!
Catherine Paxton
Arlington
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