Single payer as I understand it means Government paid.
I would prefer all companies drop health insurance and let everyone buy their own policies.
Base the premiums on last years expenses, spread the risk over the entire pool.
That would open up so many new markets.
As it stands now, health insurance is a club that employers hold over peoples head.
How exactly do employers "hold that over" our heads?
Maybe it would be best if employees (and all people) had the options to pursue healthcare on our own. But smart employers have a vested interested in the well-being of their employees, especially if those employees truly are considered "assets" of the company.
I don't see how a company, protecting its interests, is "holding something over" the heads of its employees.
So people that have long term illnesses will keep paying more and more each year? Do you know what the 6th or 7th year of cancer care would end up costing if it was based on the previous year?
I agree with this in principle. Individuals being responsible for their own health care costs would help bring the costs down. Unfortunately, in our current environment, individuals who lose coverage will eventually end up in a gov't paid system (if Obama gets his way). I don't know how things are in your state, but in mine people in group plans are the only ones guaranteed coverage. Everyone else is subject to the wims of the insurance companies. They can refuse to cover anyone who tries to get an individual plan.
As it stands now, health insurance is a club that employers hold over peoples head.
I really don't know what you're talking about here. Are you an employer? Most the employers I know feel compelled to offer insurance to their employees. Prior to this disastrous economy, if an employer didn't offer health insurance as part of a benefit package, attracting and retaining good employees was very difficult. Now that people are just happy to have a job, it's not quite so critical, but to say that employers use it as a club is incredibly naive. Referring back to my earlier statement about group plans, it sounds good in theory to say employers should drop their plans, but if they did, half their employees could not get coverage as individuals.
This bears repeating. What we have now is not an open health insurance market, it is a farce, and because of that, we are going to be foist something even worse.