A Headline Tells the Single-Payer Story

Thanks for staying with this issue. Persistence is a powerful force!

And yet single payer countries have better health care for less cost per capita than what the US has. Curious, that.

It was astounding to read that story and the quotes from people who said things like "The enormity of the cost was a shock!" These are my legislators, and they were probably dithering about this while I was in the building the other day discussing a bid.

I must be some kind of mutant, because I cannot *imagine* being a legislator and voting on this topic in committee without first doing a back of the envelope calculation on the cost. "Hmm. 3.5 million people in the state, about .5mil on medicare already -- insurance for pretty average (39yo) me costs around 3-4000 a year depending on the coverage -- that's 9-12 billion. Is that remotely feasible? That would almost double the state budget? hmmm.. maybe we should just be looking at means-tested vouchers for people who don't have employer coverage."

How innumerate and/or knee-jerked do our legislators have to be that they never take 30 seconds to think about the math before sending it off the the budget office to prepare a plan?

And yet single payer countries have better health care for less cost per capita than what the US has. Curious, that.

Curious how people assert this completely apples-and-oranges comparison, often with no attribution or reference, as if it's a debate-ender, you mean?