ACA/Obamacare: How Universal is “Single Payer” Healthcare? Not Very!

“There’s plenty of reason for free marketers to be skeptical of proposals, like the ones emanating from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and hinted at by Republican Donald Trump, that would create a single-payer healthcare coverage system in the United States.

But, if only because these proposals have resonance with the public, they’re certainly worth debating. A rational debate depends on getting the facts straight and there’s one fact that both left and right often get wrong: “single payer” healthcare of the sort Bernie Sanders proposes isn’t universal in the developed world and the US system isn’t particularly free-market by the standards of peer nations.

Although definitions vary slightly, a single payer healthcare system is one where a single entity — a government-run insurance plan — pays all bills for a variety of medical care, and private payment for these same services is more-or-less banned.

Among the G-7 countries, only one nation, Canada, actually maintains such a system. One other, Italy, has a pretty similar system but allows much more private payment, and, because of the low standards of public hospitals, nearly everyone who can afford private insurance carries it.” - No, the Rest of the World Doesn't Use "Single Payer", Foundation for Economic Education, 01/21/2016

Link to the entire article appears below:

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/the-rest-of-the-world-doesnt-use-single-payer/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokuq7LZKXonjHpfsX87ukrX6ag38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIITMB0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEBS7TYRKtst6cMUwemXSjrtqDIZoxAZZ13gZgz