Comment & Controversy

Single-payer system is the only option

“HEALTH CARE, A GORDIAN KNOT OF COST AND ACCESS, FACES REFORM”
ROBERT L. BARBIERI, MD (EDITORIAL, JUNE)

Thanks to Dr. Barbieri for pointing out that the Massachusetts insurance plan is not going to work on a national level. With insurance companies as we know them, $400 billion a year are necessary to simply administer the system. (And the average salary of a health-care insurance CEO is $15 million annually.) I say we take all this money and use it to pay for health care so that all of the uninsured can be covered. Simply gather money from taxpayers and pay it out to hospitals and doctors so that they can take care of everyone—especially the 10% of the population that uses 70% of health-care services. Now that’s an effective means of insurance!