Paul Krugman on single-payer health care reform

NY Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman responds to an audience question about single-payer health care reform at an event sponsored by NJ Common Cause. The audience breaks out in applause when the questioner thanks Krugman for his columns supporting single payer. Krugman wraps up by noting that "the economics of health care is easy. It's only the politics that are hard." Why so hard when single payer is so popular with the public? For whose benefit is the health care system going to be "reformed"? Contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know where you stand, and get them to commit to standing with you!

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Krugman
• Paul Krugman
• single payer
• health care
• Common Cause

[kfishy]

My family comes from Taiwan and what you said is completely false. The vast majority of the island's population are satisfied with the system, and with regards to cost Taiwan spends only 6% of its GDP compared to 16% of the US, and to solve whatever problems it may have Taiwan only needs to raise its spending to 8% or so, still vastly cheaper than the US.

[bpartoens]

You mention the Taiwan system. But, in Taiwan do the politicians spend millions on running campaigns to be elected resulting in the need for "donations" from lobbyists? Most of elected officials have sold their votes to keep corporations and sectors of business alive that do not work in the best interest of the citizens who elected them. When health insurance CEO's get $1.1 billion golden parachutes after resigning due to a backdating stock scandal, the money has to come from somewhere-denials.

[Meade556]

@mpc91 By that I mean Britain is cheaper and having lived there it is more effective and the hospital was clean, although not as clean as French hospitals.

[Meade556]

@mpc91 Yeah we do, you purchase health insurance, assuming you can afford it and are eligible from the private sector. As for Medicaid, things would be a whole lot worse without it, which is why it was enacted in the first place

[kevinwaynesongs]

@aaasssfffdddiii Chile has guaranteed universal health care for all and an individual mandate. 

[mpc91]

@Meade556 - We don't have a mostly private system. He have a tightly regulated system of cronyism and state-enforced mandates, and one in which 45% of the funds spent are spent by government.

[Meade556]

@mpc91 Ah right since all that you fear has happened with our mostly private system, we must have single payer, except we don't

[mpc91]

A single payer plan cannot be cheaper, and for someone who calls himself an "economist" to call for this is clearly being duplicitous. Costs are reduced as a result of competition. When individuals shop around services increase, or costs decrease, or both. But when there is only one payer who sets costs politically, costs rise and services decrease. This is what has caused our current mess. Insurance mandates, medicare and medicaid have made health care expensive, not economic liberty.

[aaasssfffdddiii]

@mojorhythm First, Stiglitz vs Friedman is hardly a close call. Friedman is, arguably one of the 2 most important economists of the 20th century. The same cannot be said of Stiglitz.

However, you are acting like I am debating Stiglitz. Like you, I am also arguing with a "Youtube Keyboard Warrior" (you). So, this is not about me vs Stiglitz. This is about one "Youtune Keyboard Warrior" who agrees with Friedman arguing with another "Youtube Keyboard Warrior" who agrees with Stiglitz.

[mojorhythm]

@aaasssfffdddiii The testimonial power of Stiglitz vs Friedman is a close call. The testimonial power of Stiglitz vs some Youtube keyboard warrior is a completely different issue. You know this.

[aaasssfffdddiii]

@mojorhythm I never said anything about a "Godless Socialist Agenda". What "facts" are supposed to change my ideaology?

But, you're committing a fallacy here. Milton Friedman, who also won a Nobel Prize and is far more cited than Stiglitz, always said the exact opposite about Chile. Does the fact that Nobel Prize winner agrees with me prove my point?

No. On this case, Stiglitz is clearly wrong. Chile is an example of free market reforms bringing about growth.

[mojorhythm]

@aaasssfffdddiii You say: "Stiglitz, just like Krugman, is a LIAR!!!"

I say: to think that one of the most frequently cited Nobel-prize winning economists in the world would just MAKE SHIT UP about Chile's economy to advance some godless socialist agenda doesn't pass the straight face test. You are clearly on a slight angle to reality; contorting the facts to align with your ideology rather than changing your ideology with the facts.