Health Insurance Reform

With so much talk across the nation about health insurance and health care reform, not much has really been discussed about the idea of a “single payer” health care system.  The term is often used in news reports and commentary but is rarely defined.  The simple definition of a single payer health care system involves a fully government funded health insurance plan, and this is often referred to as “universal health care”.  The federal government would pay for everyone’s medical treatment for any injury or illness in a single payer system, which would mean that traditional health insurance companies would no longer be needed. 

Proponents of a single payer system view the plan as a way to establish equality between the underprivileged and the wealthy when it comes to health care.  Rallying efforts organized to build a consensus among those of lower income in order have been used to build a grassroots push towards universal health insurance.  The philosophy behind much of the development of this grassroots movement is that health care is a right shared by all Americans, similar to the right to education that has become indoctrinated into modern society in the United States.   

The Obama administration has said that under a health insurance reform plan that people would be able to keep their health insurance plans if they like what they currently have, but that supposes that only a “public option” would be instituted.  A public option involves government-funded health care that would be an “option” for citizens and traditional private health insurance companies would remain in place.  Many see the public option as a stepping-stone to a single payer system.

There is evidence that the Democrats in Congress see a single payer system as the best alternative.  Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) stated “I said, excuse me sir, the goal of health care reform is not to protect the private health insurance industry.” She then added, “I am so confident in the superiority of a public health care option, that he has every reason to be frightened.”

This opinion is not limited just a few select Democrats in Congress, and President Obama has spoken out regarding a single payer system in a speech to the AFL-CIO from 2003, “I happen to be a proponent of single payer, universal health care plan”, buttressing this position with the phrase “everybody in, nobody out.”  A lot has happened since 2003, but Michelle Obama made the following statement in 2008 “The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”

Whether a public option is advanced or a single payer system is proposed, most agree that funding either will be difficult or impossible under the current budget, which has record deficits.  Group health insurance reform is a worthy discussion in terms of humanity, however no concrete answers have yet been provided as to how it would be paid for.