Reader wonders about health care

Initially Republicans killed ObamaCare's "public option" that might have led to national single-payer health care; and throughout they've relentlessly pursued their self-fulfilling prophecy that all ObamaCare shall fail. Perhaps we should reconsider single-payer, even though ObamaCare still contains very significant improvements over the present system at somewhat lower cost (nonpartisan CBO analysis).

Canadian single-payer universal health care costs only 60 percent of the present US system, with better results (life expectancy, infant mortality, etc.). Despite misleading ads by US insurance companies, the Canadian system is also very popular. The evidence? When May 2011 elections gave Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper a conservative Parliamentary majority, guaranteeing passage of any conservative legislation, he quickly assured Canadians of no change in their single-payer system. Moreover, the late Tommy Douglas, a former Baptist minister who introduced the single-payer system in the 1960s, was accordingly voted all-time greatest Canadian in a 2004 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation survey.

University of Toronto researchers said the US could save $27.6 billion yearly by adopting Canada's single-payer system (National Journal, 8/4/11). A 2008 survey showed US doctors supported a single-payer system by almost 2-to-1: 59 to 32 percent (Reuters, 3/31/08).

So let's extend the popular Medicare to everyone!

Norm Luther

Spokane