Single-payer Medicare is answer
Last week the Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Republicans want to be known for their fiscal responsibility and opposition to the Democrats. The adage, “time is money,” comes to mind. Since they knew they could not repeal the act, why did they waste so much time/money trying to repeal the bill? They are supposed to be the opposition party but they don’t act like it.
If the Republicans really wanted to be a true opposition party whose goal is to do what’s best for their constituents, they would have tried to pass a single-payer Medicare-for-All version of health care reform. In the U.S. we spent $7,681 per capita in 2008 for health care, which is almost twice as much as any other industrialized country. Canada spends $3,673, Denmark spends $3,773 and Germany spends $3,465 per capita. Medicare spends approximately 97 cents of every dollar on health care for their subscribers. For-profit health insurance companies pay out only 60-80 cents of every dollar on health care. The rest is profit.
Imagine almost 20 to 40 cents of every dollar saved by using Medicare, which could be used to save health care costs for employers and our federal, state and local governments. Our being able to buy into Medicare would be more cost effective than the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Medicare is a proven, quality health care program. You can read more about single payer at www.pnhp.org.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers know about single-payer Medicare for all and the cost savings. Politicians do not support it because Medicare would not pay out the enormous profits to the health care industry, which includes health insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Those millions of profits help fund the campaigns of both the Democrats and Republicans. No opposition party here!
Kaye Gamble
Sleepy Hollow