Key design components and considerations for establishing a single-payer health care system
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Congressional Budget Office, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, DC] : Congressional Budget Office, May 2019
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Insurance, Health, Reimbursement Single-Payer System -- organization & administration Universal Health Insurance Health Care Reform Insurance Coverage Insurance, Health -- organization & administration Humans United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Some Members of Congress have proposed establishing a single-payer health care system in the United States to ensure that virtually everyone has health insurance. In a typical single-payer system, people enroll in a health plan operated by the government, and the receipts and expenditures associated with the plan appear in the government's budget. This report describes the primary features of single-payer systems, and it discusses some of the design considerations and choices that policymakers will face as they develop proposals for establishing such a system in the United States. The report does not address all of the issues involved in designing, implementing, and transitioning to a single-payer system, nor does it analyze the budgetary effects of any specific proposal. Some of the key design considerations for policymakers interested in establishing a single-payer system include the following: (1) How would the government administer a single-payer health plan? (2) Who would be eligible for the plan, and what benefits would it cover? (3) What cost sharing, if any, would the plan require? (4) What role, if any, would private insurance and other public programs have? (5) Which providers would be allowed to participate, and who would own the hospitals and employ the providers? (6) How would the single-payer system set provider payment rates and purchase prescription drugs? (7) How would the single-payer system contain health care costs? (8) How would the system be financed? For each question, this report discusses various options and provides a qualitative assessment of the trade-offs they present.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (29 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101753221 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101753221