More than 2,000 doctors across the U.S. have signed a declaration in support of establishing a national single-payer health plan.
The statement was drafted by Physicians for a National Health Program, an advocacy group that has been pushing single-payer since 1987.
Echoing Bernie Sanders' call for a "Medicare-for-all" system, the proposal describes its vision as essentially expanding the current framework in place for the elderly to all Americans. It notes, however, that ideally the national program would do away with problems that exist in Medicare, such as "high cost-sharing, limitations on coverage and contracting to wasteful private plans."
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The group claims that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) does not come near solving all of the problems inherent in the nation's health care system.
"Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act six years ago, 30 million Americans remain uninsured, an even greater number are underinsured, financial barriers to care like co-pays and deductibles are rising, bureaucracy is growing, provider networks are narrowing, and medical costs are continuing to climb," Dr. Adam Gaffney, a co-chair of the working group that created the proposal, told The Hill.
The plan would be entirely financed by taxes; no copayments or deductibles would be required for medical services.
A board of experts and patient advocates would determine what services would be covered by the health plan and which ones would be excluded, based on their effectiveness.
While Medicare is currently trying to deemphasize the fee-for-service model of pay, the single-payer system proposed by PNHP proposes scrapping fee-for-service entirely for hospitals. Instead, the government will allocate a lump sum to hospitals to treat patients, rather than in exchange for each test, operation, or prescription.
All health care facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, would be nonprofit.
However, the plan does not propose getting rid of the fee-for-service model entirely for physicians. As long as the government monitors for abuse of the system, claims the group, it can work.
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