Dr. Donald Berwick -- Harvard-educated pediatrician, former Center for Medicare and Medicaid administrator, and now Democratic candidate for governor in Massachusetts -- has come out in favor of ditching RomneyCare for single-payer in the state of its creation:
It is time to explore seriously the possibility of a single payer system in Massachusetts. The complexity of our health care payment system adds costs, uncertainties, and hassles for everyone - patients, families, clinicians, and employers. I will work with the Legislature assemble a multi-stakeholder Single Payer Advisory Panel to investigate and report back within one year on whether and how Massachusetts should consider a single payer option.If Massachusetts were to build a state-wide single-payer system, it would be the second New England station to do so: Vermont is on track to begin operating its own single-payer system, Green Mountain Care, in 2017, the year the Affordable Care Act allows states to innovate beyond the confines of exchanges, marketplaces and Web sites.
As Republicans prone to conspiracy theories are well aware, and Democrats are perhaps less aware, Dr. Berwick has previously championed the United Kingdom's NHS -- free at point of use since World War II -- as a model for the world of social justice and quality health care.
'Excellent health care is by definition redistribution'.Remember, folks, that Canada's single-payer system is still technically operated on a province-by-province basis with additional funding from the national government. This is how we can achieve single-payer, Medicare-for-all in the United States as well.
If you live in any state and care about single-payer becoming a reality in the USA, help out Dr. Berwick today.