Plenty of issues with single-payer health care

So recent letter writer Betty Jones has a great idea: health care for all.

Wouldn’t it would be nice if health care could operate on something other than a tiered system? No matter who you are or where you are in the United States, you could walk in and get excellent care — exactly the same as everyone else. Well, that’s not going to happen.

Do you really think you can make the wealthy slum with you in the waiting room? As soon as you let anyone pay for upgraded care, anything that felt “good and just” about such a plan falls apart. Can you imagine a waiting room with Hollywood A-listers sitting beside their plumber? How about the Yankees cleanup hitter waiting beside the pizza delivery person?

Are you going to make it illegal to go outside the United States for advanced care? How will you punish a doctor who is found treating only a certain clientele? How much are you going to pay the doctors? Are they all going to be nine-to-fivers? What is their incentive to work more than that? What about those that would demand a private room in the hospital?

I guess it’s gonna be one of those things that would work only if you had nothing to compare it to.