“Single Payer” explained in plain, simple, unembellished english

  The debate over whether we should institute a system of national healthcare or not is misleading.

  National healthcare insurance is something that we already have. We just do it at a very high cost and in the most inefficient way possible. Any person without health insurance in this country ends up going to the emergency room. The idea that these people go to the emergency and are getting something for free is not right. It is true that hospitals cannot turn anyone away but it is also true that hospitals don't treat people for free. The treatment of poor people in our emergency room is paid for but obviously not by the guy who has no money.  The government, you and I pay for the care of the poor. The charges are just hidden in higher insurance rates and taxes. Hospitals jack-up charges to people with insurance so their rates go up and the government subsidizes hospitals for treating uninsured patients so taxes go up.

   The idea being floated around by some politicians that we can't afford national health insurance is absolute lie. Most of the industrialized countries in the world seem to be able to afford some form of national healthcare and the United States is by far the richest country. As stated in the paragraph above we are already paying for national health insurance. So the question isn't whether to have national health insurance or not.  There are really 2  question 1. how efficiently do we provide healthcare for everyone? 2. how do we pay for it? The only reason some politicians are against national healthcare is - it's paid for in the form of taxes which will effect their rich donors. If you think that your taxes will go up you are right but you also will not have heath insurance bill which is pretty much the same thing as a tax except it goes to a middleman insurance company that takes 20% off the top.  My insurance cost me over thousand dollars a month close to $15,000 a year that's a huge tax on my income. If there wasn't a for-profit middleman collecting millions of dollars off of the top of our health insurance system then that wouldn't be part of the burden you have to pay. $15,000 is quite a tax I'm paying every year so an insurance middleman scan crape 20% off the top before you even get treated.

The Pay of a few insurance CEOs not including stock options.

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini: $15 million

Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish: $13.5 million

Cigna CEO David Cordani: $14.5 milion

Humana CEO Bruce Broussard: $10.1 million

  The other phony idea floating around is that national health insurance will crush our businesses, that too is a lie. Our businesses would be aided by having national health insurance paid system. Businesses in every country that has national healthcare do not have to put employee health insurance into the cost of their production keeping the price of their goods down. If healthcare was treated the same other national costs like infrastructure and defense then our companies would be more competitive with other companies in the world.

  If the insurance company taking millions of dollars off of the top of the cost of our health insurance isn't enough to convince you that we should have some form of national healthcare the following should.

  We have all seen the people out there marching around saying they didn't want the government getting between them and their doctor. That is a lie put forward by the insurance industry. It is the insurance industry that gets between you and your doctor by means of their preferred provider list. You've heard of the preferred provider list, you have to pick your doctors from a list of doctors approved by your insurance company. The reason those doctors are on the preferred provider list is that they follow the insurance companies dictates as to what tests and treatments they will allow. If the doctor doesn't follow what the insurance company dictates to them, they will be dropped from for provider list. A doctors success depends on being on the preferred provider lists of the insurance companies in their area. So it is not the government that is getting between you and your doctor it is insurance companies.

  It is the insurance company and their greed for more and more profit that is getting between you and your doctor. It is not a hard equation to figure out a company is put together to make money.

  If your concern is lack of quality of the care - Insurance companies are more concerned with profits and the bottom line of the company, not the efficiency of your healthcare. If you're concerned you will have fewer options, there are many examples that refute any worries there. The United States ranks 37th in the world in the quality of healthcare - That is a disgrace!  But what is even more disgraceful as far as cost we spent four times more than other countries on our healthcare. So think about that - four times more and ranked 37th, do you think something is wrong? As far as options, the English have started a national health care system just recently that gives a public option for everybody and for anybody who wants they can pay for additional insurance. The English people are so happy with their national healthcare system that they celebrated it during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games.

  So in conclusion you get better healthcare outcomes /quality. You have the option to buy additional insurance if you want it. National healthcare makes our companies more competitive by leveling the playing field with other nations that have national insurance.  National healthcare saves us all money because we are paying four times more than any other nation that have national healthcare.