For those of us ignorant to the particulars of health policy, what is a single payer system?
It's basically health-care funded by a single public entity, from a single fund. The advantages are that it dramatically reduces administrative overhead, which is currently the greatest contributing factor to skyrocketing health-care costs.
haha you think its going to reduce administrative costs? as compared to what our current socialist system or a private system?
People are insane, you hand out free health care, what do you think is going to happen? What happens to demand when you drop the price of something to zero? This is simple stuff.
Look at every other modern country in the world, look at their health care systems, and compare costs. We spend more in the US than anyone.
Medicare, a single-payer style system, has lower administrative costs, and lower rising costs, than the private market place.
It's not free health care. It's universal health care. It's paid for by tax dollars, the only people it's free for are those who literally cannot afford it.
It's not demanding the price drop to zero, but rather that profits are capped / moderated. There are many non-profit organizations out there, whom all have employee's, pay them, and take in money. One possible role of government could to be to help set up trust funds (one time loans, which can be repaid) to set up non-profit health insurance co-ops, or health insurance companies (I believe something like this was in "Obamacare", but hasn't taken effect).
Back to Medicare - people love it, and can't wait to get on it. Threatening Medicare is very dangerous politically, but most Americans like it - they just don't know it's because of government involvement (which blows my mind).
Why is a single payer system, i.e. vouchers, a good way to deal with educational system, but it's a horrid way to deal with health care?