Conservative Think-Tanker Accidentally Argues That Single Payer Could Save Americans $2 Trillion

it is a lack of knowledge on the part of patients using the service. You must have a pretty low opinion of Americans if you believe Germans and South Koreans (as well as most other industrialized nations) can cover everyone for less money and achieve better results, but that such a thing is impossible here...

SSG (Join to see) Typical response from the left. Tell me where the $32.6T over the next decade will come from, the rest of your post means little.

MCPO Roger Collins - The same place the 35T we would otherwise spend on the current system comes from... hence the 2T in savings.

SSG (Join to see) So, you have no idea?

The reason it costs so much in the US is because we do a poor job of controlling costs, ergo we pay much more than any other nation for healthcare. The point of the article was that a conservative think tank indicated a 2 billion dollar savings... not a liberal think tank (which might have indicated an even greater savings). If a conservative think tank is telling us we can save trillions and cover everyone, the only reason we woudln't want to do that was because we were prioritizing health care industry profits over Americans.

You are ignoring the “why wouldn’t we want to do that?” Answer. Because it’s over 35 trillion dollars MORE than we are spending now!

SPC Henry Francis - No, it's 2 trillion less than we would otherwise spend. That's not my estimate, but the estimate of the conservative think tank cited in the article.

The estimate of what we’ll spend is 32 trillion (not 35, I was in error). My intent and focus is on the simple fact that 30-32 trillion dollars over 10 years is completely untenable. We simple cannot afford to spend either amount regardless of the “savings”. I never heard of “insurance” that pays out more that it takes in in premiums (not to even mention taxes). This is not insurance! It is welfare and it exceeds or at least consumes 100% of our current all-time-high revenue collected every year for the 10-years this estimate covers. Who in his right mind thinks it is even possible, much less a good idea? We simply cannot afford the single payer healthcare plan that Obamacare was designed to self-destruct into! it would be 10X worse than the VA medical is now!

I've seen both Germany and South Korea cover all their citizens and achieve better results than the US, while spending less money. I know it will not be easy, however if they can do it then I believe Americans can do ti as well.

The average general practitioner in the US earns about 180K a year while the average in most other developed nations is around 120K a year, so yes... I expect doctors will be accepting lower fees.

If I'm going to pay, I'd rather pay for someone to see a doctor when they first start feeling sick, than pay for them to get treated in the emergency room once their condition begins spiraling out of control.

The average base salary for a family practice doc is around 189,000, they are probably around the lowest paid doses in the US. Considering med school costs in the US. Do you really believe they would take 120,000. They would be retiring when they finally paid off their student loans.
You also forget about malpractice costs that many socialized system don't have. Think about DC, how many lawyers are in Congress; I don't see them cutting their colleagues threats.
I have lived in the UK. They can only do so many surgeries of each kind per year, it is called capitation, thus you have to wait for elective surgery, often 1-2 years.
Think it is tough to get into seeing a doctor, in a socialized setting with the doctors being paid a salary, when 1700 rolls around, the office closes, they won't be sticking around to clear out the waiting room.
And when you speak of surgeons, orthopedists in the US average over 500,000 I just don't see them wanting to take pay cuts. Just my opinion.