Letter: U.S. has failed at providing healthcare to citizens

For years the United States has struggled with providing healthcare to our citizens, and by every measurable metric, we have failed. Free market solutions have failed. The Affordable Care Act, while better at covering more people, has left many behind.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2014 the US spent 17.1 percent of GDP on healthcare, compared to 10.4 percent for Canada, 9.4 percent for Australia and 9.1 percent for the United Kingdom. We spend two to three times as much, yet we have the highest rate of deaths from preventable medical conditions, higher hospital admission rates for chronic conditions, and longer wait times for healthcare appointments than comparable countries.

A large reason for our increased costs and inferior health is the for-profit insurance companies. Private insurance administration consumes up to 15 percent of all health care spending according to Robert H. Frank, an economist at Cornell University. This spending adds no value to the healthcare system and, in fact, reduces coverage in order to maximize profits.

So why do we as a nation keep trying to tweak failed models? If we would look around us we would see that countries all over the world have for decades used universal healthcare models, with far more success than what has been tried here. If we simply look north to Canada, we would see a government-run single-payer system with lower costs and more services. Canadians have a significantly lower infant mortality rate, lower obesity rates and higher life expectancy.

The objections to single-payer healthcare mostly result from misinformation about costs. However, with a focus on preventative care, lower overhead costs, consolidated purchasing power, standardized billing, and removing insurance companies and employers from the healthcare equation altogether, the cost of a single-payer system would be a lot lower than many claim.

Nick Teifke,

Fond du Lac