While the United States spends approximately 24% of our health care dollar on administration, Canada spends only 11%. Our own Medicare (a single payer system) reports an administrative overhead of less than 3%, while private insurance company overhead exceeds 14%. According to a study by the General Accounting Office, if the United States adopted a single-payer system, the administrative savings would allow us to insure the uninsured and supplement the policies of the underinsured without increasing our health costs. Two studies performed by the Lewin group for the states of Massachusetts and Maryland came up with similar results. Canada has been in decline since it went for universal healthcare, imo. And their healthcare system is in crisis as we speak. Canadians are not happy with it.
Let's get tort reform passed and then see what impact that has. And health savings accounts etc. Are you familiar with President Bush's proposals on healthcare?