ABSTRACT
A comparison of healthcare costs as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 1970 to 2019 in the United States, under a free market system, is compared with Canada, under a single-payer system similar to Medicare For All, showing that the American system is far more expensive. Data are presented showing that under US Medicare, payments for hospitals and doctors are dramatically lower than private insurance with negotiating leverage as the major causative factor. Yet, many doctors support a single-payer system as outlined in author’s interviews. A study by the University of Massachusetts, as well as one reported in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine, and a Yale Epidemiology study reported in the medical journal Lancet estimate savings of between $500 and $600 billion per year. The assumptions made in these studies are analyzed and compared to other studies. Then, other potential savings like early disease intervention and prevention, lower use of hospital emergency facilities for basic care, disease management, and medication adherence are presented.
