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To the Editor: Dr Woolhandler and colleagues, on behalf of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance,¹ argued for the establishment of single-payer national health insurance (NHI). Details of their proposal—to require that physicians negotiate a binding fee schedule, prohibit hospital expansions and capital purchases, eliminate the health insurance industry, and require employers to transfer money earmarked for health benefits to the NHI program—represent the antithesis of freedom, choice, and private enterprise, the very hallmarks of American society.

Single-payer, government-run health care cannot deliver the best medical care that Americans expect and now receive. Inherent problems include detrimental long waits for care, rationing, a slowness to adopt new technology and maintain facilities, and a gigantic bureaucracy that interferes with clinical decision making.

The authors' continual references to the merits of the Canadian health care system contrast sharply with a recent report by Canadian physicians that concludes "we see . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
President, American Medical Association
Chicago, Ill

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The AMA Health Insurance Proposal--Reply
Palmisano and Emmons
JAMA 2004;292:1173-1174.
FULL TEXT