Single Payer

The Physicians for a National Health Program at this time are officially endorsing the single payer system. They see it as cost efficient to the point of covering even those that have no insurance.

PNHP claims that 15 different medical associations and societies indorse their plan which was detailed in "What is Single Payer" back in April 2003. One of these associations is the American Medical Student Association which has a lengthy supportive statement.

The government would collect the equivalent of premiums from workers and employers. Administrative savings on the part of health care providers would be theoretically big since they are only dealing with one entity. These savings along with fee restraints placed on doctors would pay for the uninsured. The PNHP site is well done and up to date.

A quick unofficial survey of search results would indicate that the vast majority of sites are publishing a pro single payer stand. Just to be balance I've dredged up a couple on the other side of the issue.

The Buckeye Institute, in where else Ohio, says that single payer is "socialized medicine". Mr. Matthew Hisrich posted in the Fall of 2004 that single payer is what the Canadians have and they suffer "from long waiting times for critical procedures, lack of access to current technology" and other woes.

The Heartland Institute has lots of articles such as "Single-Payer Proposal Called ‘Politically Impractical’ " published in October, 2003. They mention the report published by PNHP in the Journal of the American Medical Association and say that the AMA does not support it. It looks like a decent resource with a partisan flavor seen from my quick glance.