Vermont single payor | The Incidental Economist

The Incidental Economist has a new post commenting on Vermont's proposed Single Payer Health Care Plan (Kevin Outterson at their blog spells it Payor). He argues that it is not really Single Payer in the same way that Canada's or Great Britain's is. It all depends on how Single Payer is defined. Outterson's comments can be read at:

Vermont single payor | The Incidental Economist

Single Payer(or) activists often state that "every industrialized nation except the US has a single payer system which covers everyone and controls costs." While Great Britain and Canada have government run insurance systems which cover everyone, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan cover everyone through nonprofit private insurers that are heavily regulated by the central democratically elected government. All of these countries do a better job of controlling costs while having better outcomes than the United States. For a full report see:

Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008

I often get mixed messages from the movement about what Single Payer is.  Is Canada's system the only acceptable one?  In the end isn't a guarantee universal coverage, controlled costs, and better outcomes what everyone wants in the end?

 

**Related Post**

Variability in Health Care Survey Reports but not in Vermont's Health Care Plan