HARRISBURG, August 9, 2008 – Today, State Senator Jim Ferlo and a large group of health care advocates call for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to add a Universal, Single Payer Health Model plank to the Party’s platform. 

In a room across the hall from where the DNC is making some of the final determinations on the direction of the Party for the coming Presidential election, a broad coalition made the case that a single-payer health care system could cover all Americans, be far more cost-effective, run more efficiently, and provide better care. 

“Single-payer preserves the patient-doctor relationship, but it finds a far better way for paying for care,” Senator Ferlo said.  “Our current health-care system is crumbling under the administrative weight of health insurance providers, who act in the interest of making profit, not in protecting their customers.”

A single-payer health care insurance model will system that provide medical, dental and health care services to all Americans by eliminating the costly, duplicative and wasteful function of private health insurance carriers. 

Our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world and it is badly broken. Most of the current proposals for fixing it include maintaining a large role for the health insurance industry. Including the insurance industry guarantees that these proposals will not provide affordable, high-quality healthcare for all Americans.

A different solution is necessary: a universal, single-payer healthcare system.
It's called "single-payer" healthcare because one organization makes all the payments to the private healthcare professionals and institutions that you, the patient, choose to use.
It's "universal" because it covers everyone.

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