EU and Japanese corporations, with their single-payer systems, pay considerably less to provide their employees with the same level of health benefits that employees of US companies have.
There is two ways they can do that.
1 - They are passing those costs on to others. To the extent that this is happening there isn't much of a benefit.
2 - The total costs are lower. Well they are, but its far from clear that this is from single payer. Its not like any other nation is just like the US in terms of wealth, wealth distribution, medical culture, legal culture, genetics, eating and exercise habits, accident rates, and many other factors, so that you can make a simple comparison. There are quite a few recognizable factors, and then probably quite a few more that are hard to recognize. The structure of the health insurance system is just one factor (and its not like the US has A, and all these other countries have B, the US has A, UK has B, Canada has C, Japan has D etc, and if the US went to some "universal" and/or "single payer" system it would be its own seperate new system, not the same as Canada's, Japan's or any EU country's |
