I recently read an article on Vox that made a case for a single-payer health care system. A single-payer system, as the name suggests, is a payment structure in which all people have their health care paid for by the same payer (e.g. Aetna or Blue Cross). Many countries (e.g. Canada, the United Kingdom) are in single-payer systems in which the government is the only payer, but in the United States, the payer is one of many health insurance companies, if you have health insurance.
The article showed data released by the Trump administration that indicated that senior citizens in the United States had markedly lower wait times compared to seniors in countries that have single-payer systems. The graph was apparently trying to convey that the United States has a superior health care system to single-payer system when it comes to treating the elderly.
The Vox article pointed out the Trump administration data failed to indicate that the senior population in the United States receives Medicare. The article took this fact to make the argument that the United States, for seniors, is essentially a single-payer system. Thus, although the Trump administration may have released the data as evidence that a single-payer system, like “Medicare for all,” would weaken and harm the U.S. health care system, Vox argues the data suggests the U.S health care system is incredibly effective when there is a single-payer. Furthermore, it argues that the United States is an example of just how well socialized medicine can work.
I was excited when I first read this article. The Trump administration inadvertently pointed out that the single-payer system in the United States would work well, and we should continue to move in the direction of socialized medicine. However, the argument made by Vox neglects one important component of Medicare: Medicare Part C, commonly referred to as Medicare Advantage.
Approximately one out of three Medicare enrollees are on a Medicare Advantage plan. As such, a private health insurer is paying for their health care services — therefore, the senior population is not a single-payer system. For people with Medicare Part C, Medicare is, in effect, just subsidizing the cost of private health insurance for these individuals. As such, the senior population in the United States is not an example of a single-payer system as Vox suggests.
Article source: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2018/11/health-policy-column-1101