What Is Single Payer National Health Insurance?

Canada, Denmark and Sweden are a few of the countries that have established single payer health care systems. Before determining your own view of this type of health care financing, it's important to know what single payer is and what it isn't.

Identification

• According to the Aerospace Medical Association, single payer health care is a system in which the government directly pays health care providers for the medical care they provide to patients. The government is able to fund the system through the collection of taxes from individuals and businesses.

Benefits

• The primary benefit of the single payer system is that a country's residents, regardless of socioeconomic status, are able to receive care at physician offices, hospitals and long-term care facilities. The system also allows patients to choose their doctors and take the power to make medical decisions out of the hands of the private insurance companies, according to the organization Physician for a National Health Care Program.

Considerations

• It's important to note that single payer health care is not the same as a socialized system. In socialized medicine, the system available in the United Kingdom, the government actually owns the health care facilities and medical professionals are government employees. In contrast, single payer health care systems allow providers to work in a public or private facility.