The private health care delivery system is preserved. The ill-fated Clinton plan of 1994, for example, sought to radically change both the financing and delivery of health care in America. On the other hand, the Massachusetts Health Care Trust bill seeks to reform mainly our financing system and return the power to make health decisions to the provider and the patient. Shorthand is often useful when writing about health care reform, but this shorthand is downright inaccurate. Single-payer health care is not government run health care.
Doctors continue their private practices.
Hospitals remain privately owned and operated. The MHCT bill calls for a conversion of funds that are now paid as private insurance premiums. These private premiums are no longer paid under single-payer. Since the MHCT bill saves money on health care costs, Massachusetts residents should spend less than they currently do on health care. When this argument is launched, recognize it for what it is an attempt to pin a pejorative label on something rather than an attempt to debate rationally the policy choices we face.