Health Care Fridays: Single Payer Myths - Debunked! Part I

Hello! My name is Mary Einspahr. This semester I am doing my HECUA internship with MPIRG and University of Minnesota- Twin Cities chapter member focusing on health care. I care about this issue because I believe that healthcare is a human right.

The Minnesota Health Plan is a single payer healthcare reform bill for our state that would cover 100% of Minnesotans. Single payer is health care in which all payments are under one health plan rather than over 250 for-profit insurance companies. 

There are many myths about single payer. I am here to debunk them for you.

Myth #1: Single payer is socialized medicine.

Single payer is not socialized medicine. An example of that would be the Veterans Administration or the British health care system in which the government pays for the doctors and hospitals. Single payer creates patient choice. Under this plan you can chose your health care provider from any doctor or hospital in the United States. Doctors are not employees of the government, which means that hospitals remain in private hands. The government will not make medical decisions. Those will be left to the doctors and hospitals. The difference between this and our current system is that currently choice of doctors and treatment options are being made by insurance companies and in some cases the government. This will not be the case with single payer.

Another issue with our current healthcare system is it is tied to employment. Not only must you be employed, but you must also have health covered from our job or be able to afford buying your own. Single payer would cover all people regardless of their employment status. You would be free to change jobs or careers without fear of losing health insurance.