By Chad Hood
The groundswell of support for Medicare for All continues to grow. Two major Democratic frontrunners for the presidency support the single payer model – to replace our complicated private for-profit insurance system with a single public plan that covers all necessary medical care, spends 97 cents of every dollar on health care, ends medical bankruptcies, and saves billions of dollars (not to mention human lives) in the process. And most other candidates support incremental steps that could potentially move us towards a single payer model. What a difference from ten years ago (!) when with a Democratic House, Senate, and President we couldn’t even get a public option on the bargaining table.
As another indication of the turning tide, last month the American College of Physicians (ACP) endorsed a single payer system. The ACP is the second largest physician organization in the United States, representing internal medicine physicians and related subspecialties, like cardiology, pulmonary, and others. Again, contrast this to nearly a century of opposition from physician organizations like the American Medical Association to “socialist” reform like Medicare – which has saved the lives of millions of senior citizens and kept even more out of poverty.
We should expect fierce opposition, though. Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) recently reported on Canadian physician resistance to implementation of their single payer plan in the 1960’s. At that time, Canadian medical costs were identical to the United States. Now, Canadian spending is nearly half of ours due to a low 2% overhead (compared to 15-20% in the U.S.). Meanwhile, their health care outcomes, out of pocket savings, and patient satisfaction put ours to shame.
In the 1960’s, though, Canadian physician fear and opposition was rampant. Saskatchewan was the first province to enact a single payer health plan. The medical association there led a three week physician strike against the program. While we can anticipate a massive advertising campaign against single payer from the private insurance industry, it’s encouraging to see that in 2020 under a Trump presidency, support continues to grow amongst physicians and physician organizations. About 2/3 of physicians specifically support a single payer plan.
It’s also encouraging to see how opinions change after anti-government and anti-socialist fears fade in the face of a system that puts patients ahead of profits. Dr. E. W. Barootes was president of the Saskatchewan medical association that led the physician strike in the 60’s. Decades later, he professed his support for the Canadian single payer system – which did not interfere with the patient-doctor relationship, as feared. In contrast to Canadian smear campaigns in the U.S., the Canadian health care system has become a beloved national treasure. “A politician is more likely to get away with cancelling Christmas,” said Dr. Barootes, “than canceling Canada’s health insurance program.”
Meanwhile, what can we do here in Alachua County? For one, know and share with friends that single payer is not just a utopian fantasy or policy pipe dream. It’s the reality in most industrialized countries – who spend half of what we do with better health outcomes. It’s the true fiscally responsible pathway to universal health care, covering everyone while saving billions of dollars.
Join us on the ACLC’s Just Health Care committee and help spread the word. We’ve co-sponsored a dozen or so Medicare for All presentations in the north central Florida region over the past year and are preparing an online version to share nationwide. Let us know if you’d like us to bring the presentation to your church, reading group, or organization.