Why is single payer health care off the table?

the republicans are the party of corporations and profit...and they like the consumer gouging system that is in place now

This is an old question from 2009 before the Health Care Act passed. The President decided to keep insurance in the private sector to get his bill passed and in 2014 you will be able to afford insurance from the exchange. The Repubs would not pass anything with government insurance in it. The U.S. certainly cannot afford a Medicare plan for everyone. They refused to consider Medicare for those from age 55 to 64 with a buy-in. At your age it will be expensive to buy individual insurance. All you can do is become a patient at a county medical clinic and pay a nominal charge based on your income.

The answer is right sir. Great question I am 47 and appreciate and understand your concern, heres the answer to your intelligent question and so much more. Thank you sir. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqU-5gL25XQ

Because single payer is not a panacea. Someone still has to pay and if the consumer is not the payer, the consumer has an incentive to consume more which drives up costs. The usual response to this is price controls which eliminates R&D and reduces quality and creates shortages. Examples: Europe was the leader in medical technology research until the 70s when most of Europe went social medicine. Now Europe is bottom in the developed world at producing biotech. Canada's Supreme Court rules that waits for doctors were so long that the social health system had to be reformed because the PROMISE of coverage was not being fulfilled in reality. Rich and powerful around the socialized medicine world continue to come to the US for treatment because we have the best doctors. Politicians, wealthy, actors...basically everyone who can afford it bails out of their domestic medical systems to come to the US. An example is Tom Green who came to the US for cancer treatment rather than his home in Canada.

single payer is off the table because the Constitution, in Amendment 10, would require that Congress BUY the existing insurance companies, at fair market value and for cash, if they take over the business. and, as you've maybe noticed -- Congress hasn't the ability to come up with the money. *** Now, as for your personal situation -- you're either short of income or live in a place where state law makes the insurance prohibitively expensive. What you do is one of the following: 1. move to a state where insurance is much cheaper [AZ and FL come to mind] 2. get a job that pays better, or 3. go without health insurance. *** There's also a long term argument with backing in the academic community to the effect that the reason health care costs so much is because of insurance and government programs. Ask any physician in private practice what proportion of his total costs are for Medicare/Medicaid or insurance company paperwork -- the national average is about 25%. Today, only 12% of medical bills are paid by the patient and/or family. In 1960, the similar figure was 50%. when the person receiving care isn't paying, what's their incentive to go shopping for cheaper treatment?

arrr "because of the socialist" arr

This isn't an opinion rather I agree with you or not. But answering your question, Single Payer would be too dramatic a change from what we have now, especially with the current economic situation. Going to that extreme (again, not saying it's good or bad), would have to be done in smaller transition stages