The Difference Between Universal Healthcare And Single Payer System

The subject of healthcare will certainly be at the forefront of this year’s presidential election. Both sides of the aisle have agreed for years that while many say the technological advances in medicine in the United States are quite impressive, the system as a whole has serious flaws. Many point to the high cost of drugs and services growing year by year. Multitudes of people lacking health insurance cannot even afford the most basic care and therefore, go untreated. There are those who propose the only solution to fix these problems is to socialize medicine. Sometimes this is referred to Universal Healthcare or Single Payer System. While there are nuanced differences between Socialized Medicine, Universal Healthcare and Single Payer System

In Sweden, for example, the government promises “equal access” however; it turns out to be “restricted access.” The wait time for a procedure such as a painfully needed hip replacement promised in 3 months or less however in 2003; achieved only 40% of the time. In Canada, the average wait time for elective surgeries lasts about four years. According to an article from Cato Institute, the British government reports that some one million citizens are waiting to get into hospitals at any point in time, and in the small country of New Zealand their government says 90,000 people on hospital waiting lists. When one considers these are small population countries compared to the US, it becomes clear these problems could explode here. Many associate a bloated bureaucracy as a factor in long wait times and rationed

While this form of healthcare, often represented to the public as free, is anything but free. The funds come from much higher taxes, or the government must borrow the money adding to an already crippling national debt. Most likely both. Another added source of the hidden cost of Socialized Medicine without a total socialized system of government is the government bids for such non-medical cost as construction, supplies such as office necessities and computers, medical devices and equipment; the list goes on and on. This creates a fertile atmosphere for fraud, abuse, and political