To the editor: California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), who has questioned the viability of a single-payer healthcare bill, cannot ignore that our neighbors to the north have a single-payer system that works well since 1971. Their medicines are much cheaper than ours and their population is healthier because of it.
Simply Googling “how Canada got single-payer healthcare” could help Rivas and other state legislators understand that not only is it possible to adopt such a system in California, but also that many other industrialized nations already do it. have made.
The insurance industry is not healthy; it simply extracts income from our pockets to make a profit. Doctors are fed up with this too.
So, Mr. President, muster up the courage to bring this bill to the governor's desk.
Sylvia Hampton, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Rivas is false in stating that the State cannot afford a single-payer health system in the face of growing budget deficits.
Such a system will generate considerable cost savings by eliminating the administrative overhead of multiple payers, savings on negotiations and bulk purchasing, stopping unregulated price increases, and focusing on preventative care and early treatment. Eliminating health insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket expenses will easily offset any tax increases.
Now is the time for Assembly Bill 2200, a prudent balm for our finances and our health.
James Sarantinos, Los Angeles
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To the editor: If what people want is less expensive health care, why not require that the prices insurers pay to health care providers be made public? (“California wants to make its health care less expensive,” Opinion, February 23)
Why is it so difficult to know that the prices insurers pay for identical medical, dental, and ancillary procedures can range from $30 to $300 to $3,000 from providers located just a few blocks away? Getting medical pricing information is like pulling teeth.
Do you think there is a reason why insurers hide medical pricing and payment information from the public? Perhaps fear that true competition among healthcare providers will damage their monopoly?
Charles E. Everett, Santa Monica
The author is a health policy analyst.
