Myth - Single-Payer Means Socialized Medicine
With a Single-Payer system the health care delivery system remains private. As opposed to a national health service, where the government employs doctors, in a national health insurance system, the government is billed, but doctors remain in private practice.
 Myth - Single-Payer / Private Provider National Health Insurance will be more expensive
A national health insurance program could save approximately $150 billion on paperwork alone. Because of the administrative complexities in our current system, over 25% of every health care dollar goes to marketing, billing, utilization review, and other forms of waste. A single-payer system could reduce administrative costs greatly.
Myth - We don't need to fix what's not broken
Financing of health care drives the delivery system
Lack of cost-effective system resuts in medical errors, reduced access to prevention, etc.
Forty-five million are uninsured; an additional 50 million are underinsured.
Myth - Everybody has access through the emergency room
Emergency-room care costs 3-5 times more than primary care.
The financial inability to cover the needs of the uninsured has been cited as reason for closure of a number of hospital emergency rooms.
Uninsured have a 10%-15% higher mortality rate and earn 10-30% less due to poor healthRead more: Myths About Single Payer Health Care
"Single-payer baloney"? Editorial, Rocky Mountain News 8/2/07
Truth or Fiction? Rocky Mountain News editorial board calls single-payer health care proposal a "non-starter." Read point-by-point rebuttal.
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