Health Agents Fight Single-Payer Storm With Tornado

State Bills

Democrats might have a hard time getting even temporary government health plan bills through Congress, but they sailed a New York state single-payer health care bill, Assembly Bill 4738, through the New York state Assembly, with an 87-38 vote. The bill is now sitting in the New York state Senate Health Committee. Republicans have control over the state Senate.

Democrats in California have maneuvered a similar single-payer bill there, Senate Bill 562, through the California Senate Health Committee. The California Senate Appropriations Committee is set to hold a hearing on Senate Bill 562 on Monday.

Supporters got a single-payer measure onto the general election ballot in Colorado in November. Although voters their gave a majority of their votes to Hillary Clinton, and they Michael Bennet, a Democratic senator, back to the Senate, they gave just 20% of their votes to the single-payer measure.

Rasmussen Reports L.L.C., a polling organization, reported earlier this month that 44% of voters around the country say they favor the idea of the federal government providing health coverage for everyone.

Definitions

The government is heavily involved in regulating all health care and health coverage providers in the United States.

People who describe themselves as advocates of single-payer health care systems often define the term in different ways. Some favor systems similar to the U.S. Medicare system, in which the government provides basic coverage for all and private insurers offer supplemental benefits.

Other single-payer system advocates believe that the government-run plan should be the sole source of major medical coverage.

The drafters of the single-payer bills in California and New York used the more comprehensive definition of a single-payer health care system. Their bills call for a single-payer system to cover many forms of care typically excluded from major medical coverage today, such as long-term care. The bills would prohibit private insurers from duplicating the benefits offered by a government plan.

One obstacle to getting the single-payer proposals implemented is the projected costs. Supporters of the New York bill say the state would have to raise more than $4,000 in new revenue per person to implement it, and opponents say the state would have to raise more than $11,000 in new revenue per person.

— Read 4 ACA Change Paths That Just Got More Popular on ThinkAdvisor.