Search:

HEALTH AND SAFETY

» Drug, Devices, and Supplements

» Physician Accountability

» Consumer Product Safety

» Worker Safety

» Health Care Delivery

» Auto and Truck Safety

» Global Access to Medicines

» Infant Formula Marketing

More resources on why single-payer is needed

States in the Spotlight as Single-Payer Resurfaces in Mainstream Discourse, May 2012
Treating Sick Rich Folks, April 2012
50 Million Uninsured in the U.S. Equals 50,000+ Avoidable Deaths a Year, January 2012
Having 50 Million Uninsured Americans Is Bad Enough, But…, October 2011
Further Arguments for Eliminating the Private U.S. Health Insurance Industry, August 1, 2011
The Health Insurance Industry, September 1, 2010
To Mitch McConnell: We're Already Rationing Care (links to HuffingtonPost.com), July 8, 2010
Ten Things You Can Do for Healthcare Reform (links to TheNation.com), May 5, 2010
Health, Life Insurers Hold $1.88 Billion in Fast-Food Stocks (links to PNHP.org), April 15, 2010
Everybody In, Nobody Out (That Means Immigrants Too!), February 1, 2010
Harvard Researchers: Health Information Technology Savings Will Only Occur With a Single-Payer Health System, February 1, 2010
The Price We Pay for Uninsurance, December 1, 2009
Statement: Harvard Study Finds Nearly 45,000 Excess Deaths Annually Linked to Lack of Health Coverage, December 2009
The Uninsured in the United States: What the Rise to 46.3 Million Means, October 1, 2009
Video: Michael Moore’s Message for President Obama, September 29, 2009
Statement: U.S. Health Care System, Dominated by the Insurance Industry, Must Be Replaced With ‘Medicare-for-All’, September 29, 2009
Statement: Hearing Highlights Dysfunction of U.S. Health Care System, Points to Need for 'Medicare for All', September 16, 2009
Dr. Sidney Wolfe's Congressional Testimony in Support of a Single-Payer System, June 24, 2009
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler's Congressional Testimony in Support of a Single-Payer System, June 24, 2009
High Deductibles for Limited Eligibles, April 1, 2009
More Than a Band-Aid for Health Care Reform, Single-Payer is the Solution (links to HuffingtonPost.com), February 11, 2009
Statement: From the Front Lines - Single-Payer is the Sole Solution, January 28, 2009
The Uninsured in the United States: What the Drop to 45.7 Million Means, November 2008
Facts and Figures on Our Health Care System, August 1, 2007
Health Care Reform in the U.S.: Arguments for a Single-Payer System, August 1, 2006
Administrative Waste in the U.S. Health Care System in 2003, August 2003

Facts and Figures on Our Health Care System

Public Citizen Health Letter

August 2007

The following uniquely American and unacceptable health care scenarios will hopefully force the necessary changes in our so-called health care system:

45 million uninsured and at least another 55 million underinsured, about 1/3 of the population without adequate insurance;
1.8 million American veterans without health insurance or access to the VA health system (Support our troops??);
Medical bankruptcy, caused by inadequate health insurance, being one of the most common causes of personal bankruptcy;
The only country with most care delivered by or through for-profit entities such as insurance companies, HMOs, nursing homes and dialysis centers;
Annual excess administrative costs/waste of more than $350 billion a year because of multiple payers;
A system that employs tens of thousands of people to specialize in denying care (non-health care professional private sector bureaucrats).

Common to all presidential “plans” to solve this problem — except for that of Representative Kucinich — is the retention of the major cause of the problem, the health insurance industry. A single-payer system eliminates these middle men and uses the freed-up funds to provide health care and, as articulated by the Labor Party, Just Health Care.

Copyright © 2013 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. This Web site is shared by Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation.
Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen.

Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation

Together, two separate corporate entities called Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation, Inc., form Public Citizen. Both entities are part of the same overall organization, and this Web site refers to the two organizations collectively as Public Citizen.

Although the work of the two components overlaps, some activities are done by one component and not the other. The primary distinction is with respect to lobbying activity. Public Citizen, Inc., an IRS § 501(c)(4) entity, lobbies Congress to advance Public Citizen’s mission of protecting public health and safety, advancing government transparency, and urging corporate accountability. Public Citizen Foundation, however, is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization. Accordingly, its ability to engage in lobbying is limited by federal law, but it may receive donations that are tax-deductible by the contributor. Public Citizen Inc. does most of the lobbying activity discussed on the Public Citizen Web site. Public Citizen Foundation performs most of the litigation and education activities discussed on the Web site.

You may make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., Public Citizen Foundation, or both. Contributions to both organizations are used to support our public interest work. However, each Public Citizen component will use only the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the activities it conducts as part of Public Citizen’s mission. Only gifts to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Individuals who want to join Public Citizen should make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., which will not be tax deductible.