“Medicare for All” is a system where doctors and patients make decisions
Albany, NY – Phil Steck, Democratic congressional candidate for New York’s 21st Congressional District joined with local doctors, who are members of Physicians for a National Health Program, to announce his support for single-payer health care.
“We have a system just like this in the United States that has worked very well; it’s called Medicare,” added Steck. “Escalating health care costs are crippling to small businesses, American companies competing globally, and employees who are forced to bear an ever increasing percentage of the cost of health insurance.”
Single-payer health care, also called “Medicare for All,” is a system where a public or quasi-public entity organizes health financing. The estimated annual savings from eliminating administrative wastes caused by private insurers is estimated at $350 billion per year. This money is now spent on insurance executive compensation and bonuses, overhead, underwriting, billing, and sales and marketing departments.
Dr. Paul Sorum, a practicing physician and a professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at Albany Medical College said, “All Americans should have access to high quality, affordable health care, and the only effective way of doing this is through single-payer. As a treating physician for adults and children I know how important it is to have access to medical care and treatments.”
Under the single-payer system, even the 46 million Americans who are uninsured would now be fully covered. And, single-payer would eliminate the need for an estimated 1 million people who annually file bankruptcy because of medical bills. Steck, an Albany County Legislator, also noted that 90% of the county property tax is currently being spent to fund Medicaid, a burden the County taxpayers would no longer bear under single payer health insurance.
“A primary reason why health care is so expensive in this country is because the current private insurance bureaucracy accounts for 31% of all health care costs,” said Steck. “Doctors and patients should be empowered to make health care decisions instead of being constrained by insurance company rules and regulations.”
