Single Payer, Here We Come
March 9, 2010admin No Comments »
Senator Mark Leno
Since I have been a little negative in trashing Anthem, I thought I would focus on the positive side of health care reform.
The article Single payer, here we come is one of the best articles I’ve read on Single Payer health care system. This article details the pros and cons of converting California over to a state funded health care system quite objectively. As we all know SB810 (the bill that would become law introducing California into a single payer system) has been vetoed twice by Arnold Schwarzenegger and probably will be again.
“Leno doesn’t expect the bill to pass this year, but said it lays the groundwork for two things: first, possible approval of the bill should a governor friendly to the concept be elected this November; and, in lieu of that, placing the bill on the ballot as an initiative and letting the people decide.”
Yes, letting the 35 million California decide on their form of health care, is a great idea. Senator Leno also describes what Single Payer is;
“It’s not socialized medicine,” Leno said. “It is a public/private partnership—publicly funded, privately managed. Your doctor does not change, your clinic, your hospital does not change. What changes is who pays, and rather than waste a third of our health-care dollars on administrative waste—current system—with single-payer, as with Medicare, we will have a 5 percent administrative cost.”
Who can argue with a 5 percent administrative cost? Currently administrative costs are about 25 percent. The article goes on to talk about the cost of this system, who would be responsible for it, who is for single payer (support for SB810 out number opponents 3-1) and who is against it. It seems the two Republican candidates for govenor don’t share Senator Leno’s passion or concern for health care reform. Steve Poizner
“said he would greatly expand the fee-for-service “doc-in-the-box” clinics in Target and Wal-Mart stores “and other places where they actually post their prices and they provide a lot of the routine care that some people now go to the emergency rooms for.”
I love shopping at Target and that’s what that store is for, shopping, not a doctor visit. Steve Poizner does have a few more ideas about health care reform, but after suggesting that Wal-mart and Target are solutions to the health care system do you even want to hear them? Horrible idea.
Please read the entire article. There are so many aspects that make sense in detailing the obstacles of trying to implement a single payer system.
I have to say my favorite part of the article is the title, “Single Payer, Here We Come.” Now that is what I find positive.
Thanks for reading.









