Single-payer health reform would address many of the injustices in the US healthcare system, which have been exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Health insurance would no longer be linked to employment. All medically necessary care would be covered. There would be no financial barriers to care – no deductibles and no co-pays. Administrative costs would be reduced. This presentation will describe the benefits of single-payer health reform, but also the limits. Unless there is a fundamental shift in how resources are allocated, there will still be major inequities. The legacy of the injustices of the present system, such as the closing of hospitals in poor communities, will not be directly addressed by single-payer. A proposal to create health reform reparations will be presented. This proposal involves making investments in physician practices, hospitals, and staff in urban poor communities serving people of color and in rural communities. Funding for these investments may come partially from the administrative savings achieved by moving from our multi-payer, for-profit-oriented reimbursement system to a single-payer system. But other sources of funding may be needed. One approach is to reallocate funds from the military budget to targeted investments in the health care system that have been under-funded in our present health delivery system.
CEU Available: 1.0 CME; 1.0 MOC
CEU Expires: April 30, 2024
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