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In anticipation of House committee hearings on single-payer (in the Rules Committee last week, and in the Budget Committee soon), the CBO released a report last week on the concept. It's not a score or any sort of financial analysis, but rather is a primer on some of the key decisions that would need to be made in putting together such a model.
It's a good overview, particularly as the single-payer discussion drifts toward entering a more nuanced phase.
Key Design Components and Considerations for Establishing a Single-Payer Health Care System
It's a good overview, particularly as the single-payer discussion drifts toward entering a more nuanced phase.
Key Design Components and Considerations for Establishing a Single-Payer Health Care System
Some Members of Congress have proposed establishing a single-payer health care system in the United States to ensure that virtually everyone has health insurance. In a typical single-payer system, people enroll in a health plan operated by the government, and the receipts and expenditures associated with the plan appear in the government’s budget.
This report describes the primary features of single-payer systems, and it discusses some of the design considerations and choices that policymakers will face as they develop proposals for establishing such a system in the United States. The report does not address all of the issues involved in designing, implementing, and transitioning to a single-payer system, nor does it analyze the budgetary effects of any specific proposal.
Some of the key design considerations for policymakers interested in establishing a single-payer system include the following:
- How would the government administer a single-payer health plan?
- Who would be eligible for the plan, and what benefits would it cover?
- What cost sharing, if any, would the plan require?
- What role, if any, would private insurance and other public programs have?
- Which providers would be allowed to participate, and who would own the hospitals and employ the providers?
- How would the single-payer system set provider payment rates and purchase prescription drugs?
- How would the single-payer system contain health care costs?
- How would the system be financed?