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People are going to be talking a lot about single payer health care, so it’s worth unpacking what it means.
A single payer plan involves government-sponsored insurance, but it could also have private options like in Medicare.
A single payer plan generally replaces premiums with taxes, though those taxes could be structured in more or less progressive ways.
The biggest disruption from a single payer plan, with winners and losers, would come from changes in how health care is financed.
Administrative costs and profits under a single payer plan would almost certainly be lower.
Overall health costs could be controlled more effectively under single payer, but that still requires political discipline and trade-offs.
Since it is tax-financed and people are eligible automatically, single payer can achieve universal coverage, unlike the current system.
A single payer plan could eliminate all deductibles and copays, but that is a policy choice, not intrinsic to the approach.
The transition to a single payer system may be the most difficult policy challenge of all.
