If September 13, 2017—the date on which Sen. Bernie Sanders re-introduced his single-payer legislation—provides one turning point illustrating the hard left turn of the Democratic Party, the coming months may bring another. The American people will have an opportunity to weigh in on two very different visions of health care.
As we have seen throughout this volume, government-run health care ends up harming the people who need care the most:
The massive tax increases, federal regulation, and government spending accompanying single payer—all of which will bankrupt the economy, and future generations of Americans—provide reason enough for the American people to reject the push for socialized medicine.
But the way government-run health care especially harms those in greatest need of assistance shows the moral bankruptcy of this approach. Single payer would leave vulnerable patients with a crowded, and likely under-funded, federal health system, and few if any options to obtain care outside it.
Conservatives can, and must, make the argument against socialized medicine. But they must also make the argument in favor of a better alternative. Thankfully, single payer provides a helpful contrast to the conservative approach—one that moves toward coverage owned and controlled by individuals, not employers or government bureaucrats, and puts patients and doctors at the heart of medicine, not regulatory diktats from Washington.
Hopefully, this book has helped to illuminate a better path forward. The American people deserve better than single-payer health care. Once educated about all its harmful effects, they should demand it.