Given the amount of misinformation in the media recently around the current state of our healthcare system and the single payer alternative, we thought it would be worthwhile to do a reality check.
Fact: As of 2014, our national healthcare expenditure was $9,523 per person. Who can afford this? With half of Americans in a recent survey reporting that they have less than $1,000 in the bank, it is no wonder that medical expenses are the cause of 62% of all personal bankruptcies – even though the vast majority (78%) of filers had some form of health insurance. And, for those who have not had to declare bankruptcy, nearly 60 million of us struggle to pay our medical bills. A single payer system would provide universal healthcare at a much lower cost per capita than we are spending now.
Fact: We are already paying more – more than twice as much per capita – on healthcare as the average developed country for a national healthcare program, but without getting any of the benefits. In the U.S., tax-funded health expenditures in the U.S. totaled $1.877 trillion in 2013, with the government financing 64% of overall healthcare spending. Each year, hundreds of billions are spent on billing and insurance-related bureaucracy – not on healthcare.
Fact: The majority of Americans support single payer. Nearly 6 in 10 people say that they favor the idea of expanding Medicare to include everyone. 30 million people are uninsured and tens of millions underinsured – despite the Affordable Care Act.
Fact: We can do this! It’s true that the private healthcare insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other for-profit interests and their allies in government have deep pockets and a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of our broken healthcare system. Proponents of single payer, however, have something they don’t have: the facts to educate, the skills to organize, and the tools to mobilize a movement to demand and effect change around this issue.
We need a healthcare system that is sustainable, secure, and just. We need a system that doesn’t break our budgets, that isn’t tied to employment, and that covers everybody. Healthcare is a human right, not a commodity.
Join Labor United for Universal Healthcare and Campaign for a Healthy California on March 5 for a workshop, “Healthcare in America, 2016 and the Medicare for All Solution,” and on April 2 for a speakers training on universal healthcare. Download the PDF of our flyer.
Published February 8th, 2016Like this post? Consider sharing it on
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