People think that an universal healthcare system will screw doctors as they will be paid way less than they do now. But if you look around the world, which would be almost every other industrialized country you can see that in some countries doctors make as much or arguably more.
For example, in Germany doctors in average make about 3/4th of what doctors make here, but only pay around 10k/year in malpractice insurance, while doctors here pay way more than that.
In the UK, general doctors get bonuses for making people healthier and not for the amount of people they see.
Regular people would be be able to pay less for medications and mri/ct/etc as the government can push down the price when negotiating with the corporations. Pharmaceuticals here do not have to prove that the "new" medications they come out with are better or much different than the ones already in the market, so ~75% of all new drugs are "me-too" drugs. they also spend twice as much on advertising than on research, yet blame research for their high costs
Doctors are not on the defensive thinking that they are going to be sued, and run whatever tests they feel necessary without the insurance bitching at them. The cost of malpractice system accounts for ~2% of the US health care cost
Second ~25% is wasted in clerical work, due to the ridiculous health care system we have in place. So hospitals, private practices could save some cash if they didn't have to hire so many people to just take care of insurances, etc
Note: Some of this numbers may be 2 or so years old
You're horribly oversimplifying the situation in some respects, and in some cases you're flat out wrong. Perhaps with the exception of primary care, physicians don't get paid more on the average anywhere than they do in the US, especially when it comes to specialties. I'm not sure how they could get paid "arguably more," as you say.
Fee-for-service is no doubt a major problem with the system. But I hope you also realize that there are problems with a quality-based reimbursement system. Medicaid patients have HUGE problems getting care due to their low reimbursement rates. What makes you think that physicians wouldn't refuse to take on patients with high morbidity illnesses or need high risk procedures? These populations would then be marginalized. Unless, of course, you're going to make it illegal for physicians to choose their patients...
The salaries are high partially to offset many of the costs that are unique to the US. The medical education process in the socialized countries is ENTIRELY different than what it is here, especially with respect to cost as an example. Medical education in many of the European countries is either free or heavily subsidized; as a result, the government a.k.a. insurer has enough leverage to pay lower salaries to its physicians in addition to physicians incurring significantly lower costs in order to enter the field. In some cases you also enter directly into medical school, which means no costs associated with getting a bachelors.
Second, I'd like to see your citation for the cost of clerical work. I'm not denying that overhead/administrative waste is present in the current system - it definitely is. I just don't know what the exact number is, and I'm not sure how accurate the 25% number is.
To avoid writing an extremely long post, I'm just going to say that while single payer systems certainly have their advantages, they also have their disadvantages. They aren't a utopian dream world where everyone has top-notch care at a low price at every street corner. That simply doesn't happen.
And we're not even getting into the philosophical arguments about single payer/government-provided coverage.
the overall quality of healthcare is startlingly low in this country unless you are just talking about those with good insurance.
You know what the darndest thing is? The majority of people in this country DO have decent health coverage, and for most people the insurance does its job and does it well. We don't hear about the millions upon millions upon millions of people that receive fantastic care. Instead, we hear the rare stories where insurance companies deny reimbursement for cancer treatments, drop someone's coverage when they get sick, etc.. Well I never...
I'm not at all saying that our healthcare system is ideal or can't be improved. There are definitely serious issues that need to be addressed, and the system isn't (and will never be) fair. But let's at least be fair with what we DO have. Out health system isn't equivalent to that of a third world country for the majority of the population. The healthcare system works and works well for most people. We can reform poor practices and expand coverage to those who need it without completely razing the current system just to follow in the footsteps of the Europeans.
