"Universal Health Care" Pitfalls

The problem is not with universal health care. Everyone in the United States has access to health care (it is illegal for hospitals to turn away uninsured people). But of course that healthcare can bankrupt you without insurance. So the issue is getting insurance for the uninsured. But there is a huge problem if this evolves into a (government run) one-payer system.

Our current system is far from perfect, but there are some things that work very well. The problem with a one-payer system is how it rations healthcare. Healthcare is rationed with any system, whether it is by price, covered prescription drugs or procedures, or by waiting lists. In England and Canada, health care is rationed in large part by waiting lists. People wait sometimes months for surgery. My mother, a public school teacher, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006, and Sloan Kettering performed surgery on her within less than a week of her first visit. She has been cancer free now for over a year. But in England or Canada it might have been weeks or months before they performed surgery, allowing the cancer to grow and spread.

With a multi-payer system an insurance company’s natural interest in saving money is balanced by a need to keep subscribers happy. If one insurance company refuses to cover a new drug, or provides poor customer service, or whose premiums rise too fast, people and companies can choose to switch to a different insurance company. If everyone gets there insurance from the government you are stuck. Personally, I do not believe that a government run monopoly is going to improve service.

Better to do things to make insurance more affordable such as allowing people to buy insurance plans nationally. As it is right now health insurance in New York State is extremely expensive. That is due in part to state mandates on what must be covered on a NYS policy. I, myself, suffer from a chronic disease (diabetes) and am currently without health insurance. Why not allow people (like me) to buy a cheaper policy from another state?