Day 2 (Part Two): Green Party pitches single-payer health care
“Live longer; pay less.”
That was the mantra offered by 2004 vice-presidential nominee Pat LaMarche during the Green Party’s single-payer health care forum, held on Friday at N.C. Central University in Durham.
The former talk-radio host, and Maine gubernatorial candidate, got the crowd of roughly 100 to chant along for single-payer systems throughout the world that provide better health care, at cheaper costs, than the United States. The World Health Organization found the United States spends more per capita on health care than any country in the world, but ranks 37th in quality of care. Universal single-payer systems ranking higher include Canada and Australia, while most developed countries provide some element of single-payer insurance.
To assuage opponents of so-called “socialized medicine, LaMarche said that patients could always “opt-out,” like choosing FedEx over the U.S. Postal Service.
“You can still do all the fancy rich-people stuff,” she said. Continue reading »
