Frequently Asked Questions
About Single Payer Health Care

“Will Universal, Single-Payer Health Care cost too much?”

No. Several studies commissioned by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have found that if a single-payer health care system were implemented in Massachusetts, enough money would be saved from eliminating waste from the health care system, that all residents in Massachusetts could be covered with a comprehensive benefit package and still spend less than we currently spend.

“Will Universal, Single-Payer Health Care raise taxes?”

Most health care spending is already raised through taxes - it is just spent on an inefficient health care system. The rest of spending comes out of our wages when employers offer health care coverage to their workers, or comes directly out of our pockets. A single payer system moves most health care spending through the tax system, but the total amount each of us spends on health care - through taxes, through lower wages, and out-of-pocket - will go down.

“Doesn’t getting rid of the businesses making a profit from health care mean a loss of low and middle level workers?”

The primary goal of single payer health care is to redirect spending on unproductive, wasteful goods and services towards necessary care. The Massachusetts single payer bill provides for retraining health industry workers towards this end.

“But can our state do this alone?”

Yes. Universal health care in Canada started in one province (Saskatchewan), which demonstrated that covering all residents under a single insurance pool could actually save government and business money: other provinces followed suit, and culminated in a national law. Massachusetts can be the example for other states and the nation, as it was for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“Is government too inefficient and bureaucratic to run such a large program?”

No. Government is actually much more efficient at providing health coverage than private insurance companies: Medicare for example spends under 5 percent of each health care dollar on overhead expenses (administration, advertising, profits) - while private insurance companies spend between 10 percent and 30 percent of every health care dollar on overhead, before going towards actual care. The savings from moving to an efficient public insurance administration alone would save us enough to insure all of the uninsured.

OTHER RESOURCES ON MASSACHUSETTS SINGLE-PAYER REFORM

• What Is Single Payer Health Care?
• Massachusetts Studies on Single Payer Reform
• Massachusetts Health Care Trust (State Single Payer Legislation)
• Medicare for All (National Single Payer Legislation)