A plurality of Americans support adopting a single-payer healthcare system, or as Bernie Sanders puts it--Medicare for all. Supporters say a single-payer system would drastically reduce healthcare costs and ensure no one is turned away for a lack of money. Critics say single-payer systems don't work and will lower the quality of the American healthcare system. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

Vox explains what a single-payer health care system looks like and how they work in this video.

A single-payer system would replace insurance companies with a government-run system. In the plan Sanders is proposing, Medicare would be expanded to include all Americans, which would reduce administrative costs and allow the government to negotiate prices with both hospitals and drug companies to better reduce costs.

The way it works now, insurers are working under a perverse set of incentives which cause companies to actively avoid and push out the sickest patients. Insurers are actively working to reduce costs, but only to increase profit margins, not for patients or the healthcare system. Costs are skyrocketing out of control, but no one has the incentive to slow it down. Robert Reich writes:

Sanders argues a single-payer system would be $6 trillion cheaper than our current system. Read his proposal on how he would pay for it all here.

At the end of the day, Reich says Americans have two choices:

The Fraser Institute explains the shortfalls of Canadian single-payer system and why the U.S. should not adopt it in this video.

Critics say a single-payer system would reduce American freedom by putting the government between an individual and his or her medical provider. This is evident in Canada where wait times for same-day or next-day consultations trail below the international average. Critics say single-payer systems lead to rationing of care. Canada has been able to maintain its system by sending overflow patients to the U.S. for treatment. There would be no option like this if the U.S. were to adopt a single-payer system.

Single-payer systems would give the government control over who gets what treatment. As it is right now, that decision is between a person, their doctor and their insurance company (or if they have enough money, however much they can shell out for treatment). Critics say the government should not be the one who decides whether a person deserves treatment or not.

Then comes the bill. Critics say single-payer systems are exorbitantly expensive and Americans would not want to hand over the money needed to make a single-payer system work.

Single-payer systems would have lower quality of care, raise taxes, and limit the options a patient would have. It would unnecessarily add government bureaucrats into the decision making process. Critics say the United States is better off with its market based system.

It's clear: Medicare for all is not a radical idea. It's supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans. https://t.co/2ofKqR7EFR — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 6, 2017

#MedicareForAll and #CollegeForAll -



Or how the rest of the industrialized world calls it: civilization. — Amir (@AmirAminiMD) April 3, 2017

BTW, imagine if United didn't have any competition whatsoever.



Enjoy single payer. — Ay Chihuahua (@ARaised_Eyebrow) April 10, 2017

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