Multipayer systems waste too much money on advertising, marketing, administration and profit. In channeling money to care however, we must address a number of critical questions. Funding a universal health care system is a first step in a long process of redesigning a health care system in a way that guarantees not only medically necessary care but necessary nursing care. Canadians have a single payer system, they don t value nursing care so that s a fight nurses will have to fight under any system. It would be a terrific mistake for nurse advocates for a single payer system to suggest that such a system is a panacea that would magically solve these really deep social attitudes toward care giving.
Nurses have to wage a two-pronged struggle.
But the two things are connected. If nurses are assertive advocates of a fair, accessible, quality health care system, then their public image will be significantly enhanced. Thanks to MNA among others, the ANA is now on record as supporting single payer. This means developing educational programs at national and state conventions and developing educational materials for dissemination to nurses and to the public. Nurses in SNAs need to pressure the ANA to do this.