If single payer healthcare is better than the current American system, then why does Europe have a higher death rate than the United States?
⁸If single payer healthcare is better than the current American system, then why does Europe have a higher death rate than the United States?Where did you hear this? In a Facebook meme or on Fox News?All the statistics I’ve read shows the USA only slightly ahead in mortality rates in the area of cancer survivability. They generally fare worse (sometimes significantly worse) in most other areas. So your first premise is based on false information.Your second premise is also incorrect. Europe does not have a single payer system. Some European countries have single payer and some don’t. There isn’t a single European health care system. For example: UK, Sweden and Norway are single payer systems. Germany, Australia, Austria and Spain have universal coverage but not single payer. This is just a very short list of the many countries that have universal coverage. Even in single payer countries people can get private care. I have insurance from my employer to cover extra expenses not covered by the NHS such as time off work and uncovered dental costs. Some people opt for scans and non critical tests at private clinics. That insurance however is quite cheap and paying out of pocket is often cheaper than in the USA.The issue overall isn’t just about survivability rates. It’s firstly about everyone having a reasonable access to good health care. In that area the USA is woefully inadequate. Secondly it’s also about cost. For example I live in the UK but my first 50 years I spent under good insurance in the USA. In the UK every person is covered by the NHS. We cover more people (100%) than the USA (about 88%). We have good care and it costs half as much per person than what it costs the USA. You can’t be cancelled or be turned away for pre-existing conditions or inability to pay. So we spend half as much and everyone is covered. No co-pay at the doctor and in Scotland, no charge for prescriptions either. I can’t complain about my NHS care. All my UK taxes in total are less than my health insurance alone in the USA.You should seriously re-evaluate your question or your information sources.I know it's a bit long but this is a good overall set of data comparing similar nationsHow does the quality of the U.S. healthcare system compare to other countries? - Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker
If you favor universal healthcare for the United States, or single payer, how exactly would you implement it?
One glaring problem with this question is that it conflates “Universal Healthcare “ with “single payer”. For example, France, which has the best healthcare system of any developed nation in the world, has universal healthcare but isn’t single payer. People there have choice, and don’t have to rely solely on government insurance. Government regulations keep prices low, so insurance is also cheap. The United States needs to move toward a similar system, but it won’t be easy. The medical industrial complex in the USA is a formidable beast that devours 20% of our GDP, and has a very powerful lobby in Washington. And they definitely DO NOT want any disruption to their gravy train! France went from a free market system to their current system at the beginning of the 20th century, about 100 years ago. It wasn’t easy, and took about 20 years to complete because medical professionals had invested so much time and money in their careers, and needed a gradual path to change.Another problem with this question is that it is the embodiment of a very clever tactic used by those who want to keep things the way they are. Any time anyone mentions universal healthcare, all they have to do is yell “single payer”, and the right-wingers start frothing at the mouth. USA conservatives are getting played for useful idiots in this way. We all need to wake up to the reality, and the sooner we start implementing the French system, the better.
Why is the Democratic Party leadership ignoring the rank & file's demand for a single payer health insurance system?
The Democratic Party is basically doing what Vermont, Colorado and California have done. They’ve looked a universal single payer for healthcare. They’ve looked at how much it would cost without draconian cuts in service and they’ve decided not to proceed.Vermont, Bernie Sanders’ home state, with a Democratic Governor and state legislature decided to not proceed because it would blow up the state budget. Costs derail Vermont’s single-payer health plan - The Boston GlobeSimilarly, Colorado, an increasingly blue state voted it down and the vote wasn’t even close. Here’s the vote total:http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/...California just looked at it. The state senate passed the bill without any provision to fund it. It was estimated to cost $400 billion a year. The California state budget is about $180 billion. The head of the state assembly, a Democrat just tabled the bill. Govenor Brown, a Democrat said it’s not realistic and he’s against it. The Democrats have huge majorities at the state capitol. It’s toast.Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon put the brakes on a sweeping plan to overhaul the health care market in California Friday, calling the bill “woefully incomplete.”Rendon announced plans to park the bill to create a government-run universal health care system in Assembly Rules Committee “until further notice” and give senators time to fill in holes that the bill does not currently address.“Even senators who voted for Senate Bill 562 noted there are potentially fatal flaws in the bill, including the fact it does not address many serious issues, such as financing, delivery of care, cost controls, or the realities of needed action by the Trump administration and voters to make SB 562 a genuine piece of legislation,” Rendon said.‘Woefully incomplete’ universal health bill dead for the year in CaliforniaThe reality is that Democratic leadership recognizes a dead horse when they see it. When Colorado votes 80–20 against single payer, that means that rank and file Democrats were against it too. When any vote is 80–20 (what other vote is ever 80–20?), Democratic leaders sit up and take notice.