Resources

Single Payer Coalition Groups in Texas

National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC):  www.calnurse.org/nnoc/

Texas Green Party:  http://txgreens.org/drupal/

San Antonio Healthcare Now Coalition:  www.HealthcareNowSA.org

Gray Panthers:   www.GrayPanthers.org

Texas State Employees Union:   www.cwa-tseu.org  

Single-Payer Overviews

The Physicians Proposal for National Health Insurance
“Proposal of the Physicians’’ Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance,” JAMA 290(6): Aug 30, 2003

Key Features of Single-Payer
A useful handout detailing the main features of single-payer.

Statement of Dr. Marcia Angell introducing the U.S. National Health Insurance Act
A great overview of the need for and logic of a single-payer system. Perfect as an introductory handout.

Liberal Benefits, Conservative Spending http://www.pnhp.org/PDF_files/LiberalBenefits
ConservativeSpending.pdf
Another great introductory handout.

Public Citizen's Response to the Citizens' Health Care Working Groups Interim Recommendations
A great overview on the benefits of a single-payer system by Public Citizen.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich Tackles Health Care
Rep. Kucinich talks with Truthdig about the health care crisis in America.

Single Payer: Facts and Myths

Single Payer FAQ
A frequently-updated catalog of the most-asked questions about single-payer.

Myths as Barriers to Health Care Reform
A paper refuting many of the myths associated with single-payer.

“Mythbusters” by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
A series of brief papers debunking the common misconceptions about the Canadian health system.

“Moral Hazard:” The Myth of the Need for Rationing
Rasell, E “Cost Sharing in Health Insurance – A Reexamination,” New Eng J Med., 332(7) 1995
Roos, et al “Does Comprehensive Insurance Encourage Unnecessary Use?” Can. Med. Assoc. J 170(2) Jan. 20, 2004
Gladwell, M. “The Moral Hazard Myth,” New Yorker Aug. 29, 2005

Health Economics and Financing

Introduction: How Much Would a Single-Payer System Cost?
A review of government and independent studies of the cost of single-payer system.

Administrative Waste Consumes 31 Percent of Health Spending
Woolhandler, et al “Costs of Health Administration in the U.S. and Canada,” NEJM 349(8) Sept. 21, 2003

Administrative Costs in U.S. Hospitals are More Than Double Canada’s
Woolhandler, et al “Administrative Costs in U.S. Hosptials,” NEJM 329, Aug. 5, 1993

60 Percent of Health Spending is Already Publicly Financed, Enough to Cover Everyone
Woolhandler, et al. “Paying for National Health Insurance – And Not Getting It,” Health Affairs 21(4); July / Aug. 2002

A Proposal for Financing National Health Insurance
Rasell, Edith “An Equitable Way to Pay for Universal Coverage,” International Journal of Health Services. 29(1); 1999

"Liberal Benefits, Conservative Spending"
Grumbach, et al. JAMA, May 15, 1991, Vol. 265 No. 19

The Case Against For-Profit Care

Overview: The High Costs of For-Profit Care http://www.pnhp.org/PDF_files/ForProfitCare.pdf
Editorial by David Himmelstein, MD and Steffie Woolhandler, MD in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

For-Profit Hospitals Cost More and Have Higher Death Rates
Devereaux, PJ “Payments at For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals,” Can. Med. Assoc. J., Jun 2004; 170
Devereaux, PJ “Mortality Rates of For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals,” Can. Med. Assoc. J, May 2002; 166

For-Profit Hospitals Cost More and Have Higher Administration Expenses
Himmelstein, et al “Costs of Care and Admin. At For-Profit and Other Hospitals in the U.S.” NEJM 336, 1997

For-Profit HMOs Provide Worse Quality Care
Himmelstein, et al “Quality of Care at Investor-Owned vs. Not-for-Profit HMOs” JAMA 282(2); July 14, 1999

For-Profit Medicare Plans Cost 11 Percent More Than Traditional Medicare
MedPac Report, Jun 9, 2006

Quality and Malpractice

Introduction: Medical Malpractice, Health Care Quality and Health Care Reform (pdf) http://www.pnhp.org/reader/Section%205%20-
%20Quality%20and%20Malpractice%20Issues/Gordy%20Malpractice%20Primer.pdf
A Forum Report by Gordon Schiff, MD

How Single-Payer Improves Health Care Quality (pdf) http://www.pnhp.org/facts/quality.pdf
A brief by PNHP (makes a great handout!)

A Better Quality Alternative: Single-Payer National Health Insurance
Schiff, et al “A Better Quality Alternative” JAMA, 272(10); Sept. 12 1994

Comprehensive Quality Improvement Requires Comprehensive Reform (pdf)
http://www.pnhp.org/reader/Section%205%20-
%20Quality%20and%20Malpractice%20Issues/IOM%20Chasm%20Paper.pdf
Schiff, et al “You Can’t Leap a Chasm in Two Jumps,” Public Health Reports 116, Sept / Oct 2001

The Failures of Other Reform Options

Individual Mandates (The Massachusetts Plan)
Consumer Directed Health Care and Health Savings Accounts
Tax Credits for Private Insurance
Why HSAs Won't Cure What Ails U.S. Health Care
Critique of Sen. Wyden's (OR) "Healthy Americans Act"
Comparison between Schwarzenegger Health Plan and Single Payer for California

State Single-Payer Bills

Arizona http://www.pnhp.org/PDF_files/AZSinglePayerBill.pdf
California - SB840
Colorado http://www.pnhp.org/PDF_files/ColoradoSinglePayerBill.pdf
Illinois
Texas www.healthcareforalltexas.org

International Health Systems

I. Canada
The Canadian Health System: Lessons for the United States
US General Accounting Office Report, June 1991

A Survey of the Canadian Health System
Armstrong, et al “A Perfect System?” excerpted from Universal Health Care, New York Press, 1998

A Survey of Studies Comparing the U.S. and Canada (pdf) http://www.pnhp.org/single_payer_resources/CAN_Comparison_Sheet.pdf
PNHP Brief, May 2006

The Future of Health Care in Canada (pdf) http://www.pnhp.org/reader/Section%206%20-
%20Canadian%20Health%20System/Message%20to%20Canadians.pdf
Report of the Romanow Commission

II. International Comparisons
The U.S. spends more for less because of its fragmented financing system
Anderson, G. et al, "It’s the Prices, Stupid: Why the United States is so Different from Other Countries," Health Affairs 22(3), May/June 2004
U.S. Care Quality is No Better Than Other Countries
Hussey, P. et al "How Does the Quality of Care Compare in Five Countries?" Health Affairs 23(3) May/June 2004
Single-Payer Bibliography

A bibliography of single-payer studies and papers

From Physicians for a National Health Program, used with permission.

Footnotes

1. U.S. Census Bureau, August, 28, 2007; http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p60-233.pdf

2. “Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey, Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on the Census Bureau''s March 2005 and 2006 Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements). http://www.kff.org/insurance/7527/index.cfm

3. OECD Data 2006-2007; http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/36/38979632.xls

4. OECD Health Data 2007: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=
12757275&ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

5. Institute of Medicine, “Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations,” January 14, 2004; http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3809/4660/17632.aspx

6. Illness and injury as contributors to bankruptcy, Himmelstein DU, Warreb E, Thorne D,  and Woolhandler S, Health Affairs 2006 Mar-Apr; 25(2):w74-83. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=15689369&dopt=AbstractPlus

7. “UnitedHealth Profit Rises on Government Medical Plans” Avram Goldstein http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aPZqBSLNWSy8