•MYTH -BUSTER II - TOO DISRUPTIVE:  

Another favorite attack is that moving to a single-payer system would be too disruptive for most Americans. FACT: Actually, it is the least disruptive approach. The single-payer system seeks to reform only our health care financing system. The private health care delivery system is preserved. The ill-fated Clinton plan of 1994, for example, sought to radically change both the financing and delivery of health care in America. On the other hand, the Massachusetts Health Care Trust bill seeks to reform mainly our financing system and return the power to make health decisions to the provider and the patient. 

•MYTH-BUSTER III - GOVERNMENT RUN: 

This myth is often repeated by journalists-in-a-hurry or others just plain sloppy about their facts. Shorthand is often useful when writing about health care reform, but this shorthand is downright inaccurate. Single-payer health care is not government run health care. Under the MHCT bill - and in many single-payer systems around the globe –health care delivery remains entirely in the private sector. Doctors continue their private practices. Hospitals remain privately owned and operated. Describing single-payer health care as ‘government-run’ is an early warning sign that a reporter or speaker is faking it – relying more on popular cliches and misconceptions than a real knowledge or understanding of the topic at hand. 

•MYTH-BUSTER IV - single-payer REQUIRES A HUGE TAX INCREASE: 

The MHCT bill calls for a conversion of funds that are now paid as private insurance premiums. These private premiums are no longer paid under single-payer. Since the MHCT bill saves money on health care costs, Massachusetts residents should spend less than they currently do on health care. Good-bye to increasing co-pays and shrinking employer contributions that go to cover increasing health care costs! 

•MYTH-BUSTER V - single-payer IS SOCIALIZED MEDICINE: 

When this argument is launched, recognize it for what it is–an attempt to pin a pejorative label on something rather than an attempt to debate rationally the policy choices we face. Beyond that, however, the charge is wrong with regard to most single-payer systems around the world, and certainly with regard to the MHCT single-payer system. The government does not own hospitals; doctors and nurses don’t work for the government. Under the MHCT bill and most existing single-payer systems, the delivery of health care remains strictly a private sector function. 

•MYTH-BUSTER VI - UNDER single-payer WE LOSE CONTROL: 

Right now vital decisions concerning health care funding and rationing are made behind closed doors, often by those who make money for themselves and shareholders by providing health insurance. The creation of the Massachusetts Health Care Trust means that decisions about health care spending will be made in the light of day, with input from patients, providers and other community members. 

For more information on the Massachusetts Health Care Trust bill call Mass-Care today! 

Single-payer is no silver bullet for rising health care costs. Canada’s health care system is the world’s second most costly. In fact, after adjusting for such factors as currency exchange rates and demographic factors, Canada’s health care costs have been rising faster on a per capita basis than those in the United States. Canadian public health experts have warned that health care costs are rising so rapidly that "They are crowding out every other spending priority–social services, the environment, education. All are being shortchanged to feed an inefficiently organized health care system." Other countries have succeeded in holding down health care costs, but only by rationing care. In Britain, for example, kidney dialysis is generally denied to patients over the age of 55. At least 1,500 Britons die every year because of the lack of dialysis. That is a high price to pay for lower costs. 

•MYTH: SINGLE-PAYER PUTS DOCTORS AND PATIENTS IN CHARGE OF HEALTH CARE 

Single-payer simply substitutes government bureaucrats for insurance bureaucrats. Our Medicare and Medicaid programs show the restrictions and bureaucratic complexity of government-run health care. Surveys of doctors in both programs show that they often feel pressured to discharge patients too soon and that the quality of care has declined. Many physicians now refuse to accept Medicaid and Medicare patients because the paperwork burden has grown too costly and complex. At the same time, restrictive pharmaceutical formularies and other restrictions have intruded on the doctor-patient relationship. Physicians can face severe penalties for prescribing care that government bureaucrats feel is unjustified. 

•MYTH: SINGLE-PAYER WILL IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE 

Countries with single-payer health care systems lag far behind the United States in both the development and availability of new medical technology. Such commonplace technology as pacemakers, MRI’s and CAT scanners are so rare as to be nearly unavailable in other countries. That is why health officials in Canada routinely contract with hospitals in the United States to provide high technology medical services that are unavailable in their country. Nearly one-third of Canadian physicians have sent a patient to the U.S. for treatment within the past five years. Indeed, world leaders from countries with single-payer health care systems, including top Canadian government officials, routinely come to the United States for medical treatment. 

•MYTH: This is not Socialized Medicine 

Although hospitals, doctors and nurses won’t work for the government at the beginning, they will be highly controlled by the bureaucrats