Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Heritage Foundation opinion piece, Meridian Paulton argues that a single-payer health care plan will result in higher prices and less accountability for the quality of coverage.

• Paulton describes possible problems associated with implementing a single-payer health care system, including limited access to high-quality healthcare. What role would the social sector play in solving these issues?

• To learn about the differences between single-payer and Medicare for all, click here.

Some leading lawmakers are advocating single-payer health care, an approach that would abolish nearly all existing coverage arrangements and replace them with a single, government-run plan. Advocates argue that such a plan would be built on existing arrangements, make average American families financially better off, and give everyone access to high-quality care. These claims are not accurate; there is a wide gap between the rhetoric and the reality. Policymakers should reject single-payer policies, which impose a high cost on patients, and put medical coverage decisions in the hands of government bureaucrats. Leaders should support policies that reduce costs and empower consumers to make their own personal medical decisions.

It is not surprising that Americans are looking for a solution: America’s health care problems—rising costs and gaps in coverage and quality—persist, despite the enactment of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare). Naturally, most Americans are frustrated. According to a major 2017 Gallup Poll, 71 percent of respondents described American health care as “in a state of crisis” or burdened with “major problems.”

A different course is needed. Though government laws, regulations, and policies—including Obamacare—contributed to breaking the private market’s rising premium costs and reduced health plan choices, the right answer is not to abolish markets, impose unprecedented tax increases and public debt, and eliminate personal choices. Government-controlled health care would outlaw most Americans’ current insurance arrangements, cost even more than coverage does today for most Americans, and undercut personal choice while threatening access to high quality care.

Read the full article about single-payer health care by Meridian Paulton at The Heritage Foundation.