EU-Digest/CQ Politics: Turmoil in the US Insurance Industry as Liberal Groups Seek Single-Payer Health Care Bill - by Alex Wayne

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Turmoil in the US Insurance Industry as Liberal Groups Seek Single-Payer Health Care Bill - by Alex Wayne

A coalition of liberal advocacy groups and labor unions is trying to breathe new life into the idea of a European-style “single-payer” health system in the United States, a concept thought discredited after the collapse of President Bill Clinton’s attempt at overhauling the health care system. The groups announced Wednesday the launch of a lobbying campaign to build support for a health care overhaul that would expand Medicare, the health entitlement for the elderly, to cover everyone and act as the “single payer,” putting health insurance companies out of business.The new coalition, which calls itself the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Coverage, thinks “Medicare for all” should get its own consideration. It is backing legislation Conyers introduced in the 110th Congress that would expand Medicare to everyone and would prohibit private insurance companies from competing with the program. Groups in the coalition claim to represent more than 20 million people, including many doctors and nurses.

Members of the coalition presented results of a study by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, a labor union, that predicts that expanding Medicare to cover everyone would lead to 2.6 million new jobs, $317 billion in new business and public revenue, and $44 billion in new tax revenue. The expansion would cost $63 billion a year, on top of the more than $2 trillion the United States already spends on health care.