SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE EXPLAINED From 2009 – 2022
“American health care (even in 2022) is more and more for the rich. Please read this article on SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE EXPLAINED From 2009 – 2022 below by Suzanne White. Suzanne White is an Author/Astrologer Suzanne White is American, but she lives in France and Buenos Aires. She has been a college professor, a fashion model, a journalist, an interpreter, a novelist, a fireworks salesperson, director of a Parisian Couture boutique, an elevator operator, a shoe salesperson, a single mother and a simultaneous translator.
It is both urgent and crucial to work toward the freedom from fear of illness for all. American people (2022) are literally dying because they are afraid to go to the doctor (too expensive) or can’t afford to buy a medication that will keep them alive.
SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE From 2009 – 2022 by Suzanne White
IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTON that many Americans do not understand what SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE is or how it might actually work for them.
Not understanding something can cause people to fear it.
Some Americans’ faces go blank when I mention Single Payer. But rather than ask what it means or trying to find out, they resist the very idea and sputter defensive words like “socialism” and “government control”. That’s too bad. By adopting Single Payer, the US government would not be trying to inflict some control over the American people. It would be helping them to get full health insurance coverage for a modest premium.
I will try to explain here how it works for me here in France. Please read my article below. Then draw your own conclusions or ask me questions. Bottom line. Can you see something like this happeing in the U.S?
Single Payer Health Insurance is (with variations) a system wherein the govt owns a non-profit health insurance company. Not the ONLY health insurance company. There are many private carriers as well.
In France, just about everybody chooses the national company because the premiums are based on their incomes. Employers pay a % of our income (publishers, film productions,dance companies as well as businesses) so that everybody is covered. We pay premiums ( a % of what we make) to the govt company every month or, maybe every trimester. But health insurance does not come out of our taxes. Our premiums are considered expenses. They are tax deductible.
So everyone pays something different based on his or her family situation (many kids or handicapped etc. would probably pay less) and income. But… everyone is equally covered.
The care one receives is not based on the amount he or she pays in. But rather care is based on how ill one is. There are over 30 major long term or chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, MS etc) which guarantee 100% coverage for everything to do with that illness so long as you have it. For those of us who do not have one of those diseases, there is what Americans call a co-pay. The govt company may pay 80% of the 20 Euro doctor visit. But we pay the extra 20% out of pocket.
The basic difference in feeling when you live in a place with Single Payer is that you don’t live in fear that you or your children or your family members will fall ill. It’s simple. If we get sick, we get care. The sicker we are, the more care we get.
Logically, when there is a govt health insurance company whose job it is to keep people healthy, the govt spends lots on encouraging preventive health measures. Public service commercials on TV and ads in the Métro and buses give advice and the phone numbers of free clinics to stop smoking and curb alcohol abuse etc.
Naturally too, when a government owns a health insurance company, it wants to economize. How does it save money? By keeping the people healthy. It disallows genetically modified foods. It demands fewer pesticides and fewer chemicals in the prepared foods and indeed fewer prepared foods. Ads about exercise and ads about careful driving etc abound. The govt also control prices on medicines. Nowhere is medicine cheaper than in France. The pharmaceutical companies don’t like this practice. But they are obliged to accept it. The French government negotiates prices with drug manufacturers. In France, they cannot advertise prescription medication on TV. Only alternatives medications or comfort medicines which can be bought over the counter are allowed to be advertised.
Lastly, private French insurance companies compete with the govt company. Their first job is to absorb the rich people who don’t want to join the national company because paying a % of their huge incomes would be too expensive. So rich people often buy private coverage. Secondly, private insurers serve as co-payers. If you have both public and a modestly-priced supplemental policy, the latter will pay the co-pay and sometimes dental and eye care too. (So far, the govt plan pays only a minimum for dental and eye care).
Basically, the huge difference between the American health system and the French approach is that in France is that: The Sicker You Are, The Better You Are Cared For. In America, the sicker you are, the more $ you have to cough up to be properly cared for.
Is the French govt health plan in debt? Yes it is. Constantly. But I ask you, would you prefer your government be in debt from spending too much on health care? Or would you prefer your government be in debt from overspending on wars?
Questions? Contact me at “chinastro@aol.com”.
Author Suzanne White is an American health insurance exile. Forty-four years ago in America, as soon as they knew she had cancer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New York cancelled her paid-up health insurance policy without explanation or notice. Luckily, Suzanne had French friends who brought her and her children to France where she has been treated and kept alive by the single payer health care system ever since. Vive la France!
(This Article on SINGLE PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE EXPLAINED From 2009 – 2022 is last edited on June 11, 2022)
Now, let’s see the difference between Single Payer and public option;
Single Payer vs. Public Option
Public Option:
Allows for big insurance companies to manage the market prices.
Private pharmaceutical industry have a market of insurers to negotiate for higher prices, as it currently does.
That control of big business is retained, which leaves the public option open to opposition attacks. Those attacks will be used to destroying the creditability of the program as has been done to the Post Office, Medicaid, Medicare and other social safety net programs.
Single Payer:
It is the sole health insurance system within the U.S. Allows for the government to negotiate and standardize costs of medical procedures with the current healthcare industries. To negotiate and standardize cost of medication costs.
As the sole insurer, it will reduce the over head costs and eliminate executive wages, reducing the cost in the multi-trillions over a ten-year span, to the government and taxpayers.
Such savings greatly impacts and lowers the cost to families and individuals. *See graph to see how much your yearly cost would be.*
Everyone would be covered under a single-payer plan. As we see in the majority of development nations the lack of the healthcare insurance industry means lack of attacks towards defunding the program. Allowing for improvement to care and medical innovation to thrive within our congressional budgeting.
SEE ALSO : HOW DOES HOUSE INSURANCE HELP YOU
The Public Option is a Trojan horse, that will be used to discredit further our social safety nets. A single-player option like Medicare-For-All is the only way we keep and improve the quality of care, while keeping the core industries private and costs down.