NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Commentaries

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
Universal Health Care Argument Just Won't Die
Daily Policy Digest

Health Issues / Health Issues (Moving Toward Universal Coverage)

Friday, August 15, 2003
While sound ideas such as medical savings accounts are routinely dismissed, universal health care is a poor idea that just won't die, says Investor's Business Daily.

The Physicians for a National Health Program published a statement in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) advocating a single-payer national health system similar to Canada's.

The shortcomings of a national health, however, have been explained by American Medical Association President Donald Palmisano:

  • Long waits for health care services.
  • A slowness to adopt new technologies and maintain facilities.
  • Development of a large bureaucracy that can cause a decline in the authority of patients and their physicians over clinical decision-making.
Such a simple and reasoned argument is lost on the doctors -- all 7,782 of them, or less than 1 percent of the more than 800,000 U.S. physicians -- who are calling for a state-run program, says IBD.

In Canada, meanwhile, waits for health care are growing longer and patients complain loudly about quality.

Source: Editorial, "Chronic Disorder," Investor's Business Daily, August 15, 2003; Rashi Fein, "Universal Health Insurance -- Let the Debate Resume," Journal of the American Medical Association, August 13, 2003.

For more information
http://www.investors.com

For more on Health Issues (Moving Toward Universal Coverage)
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea/

Back
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 900 South Building, Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2003 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.