A Stupid Statements About Single Payer Healthcare

[Belacqua]

That it was stealing his money to pay for other peoples healthcare and deprives them of their choice of provider 

 
Japan has single-payer government health insurance and complete freedom to choose your doctor. If you don't like government insurance you can opt out, though I have never met anyone here who has done so. Private insurance companies are free to offer what they can, and many people have additional policies to make life more comfortable in the event of something catastrophic. (I have an additional policy for fancy hospital coverage, mostly because my wife's cousin sells insurance.) No one goes bankrupt, even if they have only the basics. 

I can show my insurance card at any clinic or hospital in the country and it will be accepted. There are a dozen general health clinics within walking distance of me, and neighborhood gossip tells exactly what each one is good at.

The government puts some limits on procedures: e.g. it will pay for metal fillings in my teeth but not fancy white ones like the movie stars get. It will pay for plastic surgery if I'm in an accident, but not if I think my nose is ugly. 

So you can tell your interlocutor that government insurance need not deprive anybody of significant choice. 

Competition will drive down prices 

Patient choice does increase competition, because if you don't like your doctor you can walk. Prices, however, are set by the government for both procedures and drugs.

In the US competition is essentially blocked, and that drives up prices. E.g., no importing from cheaper countries. 

Wait times 

Having a large number of private hospitals and clinics, chosen freely by patient, serves to keep wait times short. 


There's a strange view that a single-payer health insurance system must be like the worst parts of England's. But Japan's is better, and there's no reason not to imitate it elsewhere.