Single-payer health systems have never met ideals of offering more efficient, cheaper and cost-effective care than private health providers
Imagine a health-care system in which the government decides how many doctors and hospitals there should be, the type of medical procedures and medicines patients may receive, and the number and type of diagnostic technologies patients can access.
The fund will serve as the single purchaser and single payer of health-care services, ostensibly to ensure the equitable and fair distribution and use of health-care services. If passed into law, private providers will be prohibited from providing medical services the government provides. Single-payer systems promise free health care at the point of service, but the care is not free, it is funded by taxes. Some falsely reassured patients may find that though they contribute to the government health fund, they may be deprived of care and medication if the treatments they need are not on the government’s approved list.
Private health-care providers do not face externally imposed budget limitations: if there are buyers for a health service and it is economically viable, the service will be provided. If the price is too high, there will be fewer buyers. Thus, consumers control prices and dictate the supply with no need for government intervention.The promise of free health care for all is seductive, but the difference between promise and reality is immense.
That consumers give the highest ratings to health systems that offer the greatest choice of insurance products and services is no surprise. Economic development and human welfare achieved under government control and direction of economic activity always fall short of the level achieved under private ownership and production of goods and services.
But what happens to the poor, the unemployed and the indigent when there is no public health system? While the historical evidence shows that private philanthropy, charitable foundations and religious groups will take care of the poor, this will not happen overnight.
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