What is single payer healthcare?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_health_care

Other than the usual "the Govt. can't run any program effectively", what are the drawbacks of single-payer?

Thanks for clarifying that!  lol

(however, I, personally don't give it x5 responses before it goes Red/Blue)

its a test

Care to expound?
What cost? To whom? What are the effects? Why are they negative? Does the drawback of "the cost" benefit anyone?

Seriously, I'm not being flippant, I'd be interested in some citations.

I'm not sure if this is quantifiable, but wouldn't some costs be reduced through people not using emergency rooms as primary care and other things like that? If those prices are built into the system already, wouldn't that reduce health care costs across the board?

So with the caviat that our government couldn't effectively run a whorehouse.........what color can I be? I'm a Libertarian.

Single Payer is the "fix" to the Affordable Care Act. 

I believe what it will be is the Federal Government having a one size fits all plan that is paid for by a tax similar to SS, reimbursement to providers will be on a fee basis set by the Federal Government. Providers won't be Federal workers, well not initially but will be compensated/paid by the Federal Government. 

Well first of all it isn't free to the consumer, the government would be paying for something, and by law it must go to the best bid at the lowest price point.

Also, should healthcare really be something that we let demand dictate the price. You really need that surgery don't you, well in that case its going to really cost ya. Healthcare should be removed from that capitalist system. Just as I believe education should be.

Wait............what???

I don't think banks should be making a ton of money off of student loans.

ETA: I think this may be a whole different thread however

I always think of single payer healthcare as you have a clinic you go to and you have a hospital you go to and that's it.  Whatever doctor that's on duty is what you get, have nice day.  Next...

When I was in the Navy we had Navcare clinics out in town that were free healthcare clinics for military members.  We always hated going to them because they were over run with sick people and you'd burn half a day in the waiting room.  Then you'd get a cranky over worked doctor who didn't have much incentive to provide customer service.  That was the only place we would go for routine healthcare, we did not have a choice, and it was not fun.  Obviously that's just one clinic in one town, but to call it good would be a stretch.

I don't see how single payer could ever work in America from a fiscal standpoint because we refuse to tax our poor.  The people who are in favor of single payer healthcare always point to Europe as the example and that we should be like them with entitlements and benefits.  Yet in the same breath those people refuse to tax half the country.
If we had a 20% VAT in the US that everyone paid into then I'd say we could afford it.  There's no question it would have unintended consequences and effect a lot of things, but I'm not well enough versed in it to say what all of those effects would be.  I do have some suspicions though.  

If the consumer walks in the door, gets a service, walks out without having to pay for it, then I'd call that free.  From a supply/demand standpoint the demand would be infinite, which makes the cost infinite from an academic standpoint.  If the clinic isn't charging their customers then they cannot adjust their price to the consumer to reduce the demand.

The government going to bid for something is when the government buys stuff like a toaster.  They don't go to bid to provide DEA agents, they just hire them and pay them and we all get the "service" for free.  I hope they don't go to bid for my surgery that I need.  Here's Dr. Demitry, he said he'd remove your kidney for $75, meet him at his house tonight.  

Should healthcare be something we let demand dictate the price.  It's not a matter of letting it, it just is.  It's like saying should we let the sky be blue.  Supply and Damand is the law of economics, it exists no matter how hard you try to make it not exist.  If you open only one clinic in every city in America the demand will dictate opening more clinics because the clinic won't service the ones that are there.  The government can hide a lot of supply side costs because the consumer isn't paying out of pocket for them, but the costs will absolutely go up as the demand goes up.

Just remember, when you talk about removing this or that from the free market.  There are obviously benefits to doing things like that, but there's also consequences.  Most people like to only look at the benefits and ignore the consequences.  The ACA is a good example of this because there's no question it has a lot of benefits, but it also has a lot of consequences.  The supporters ignored the consequences and only pumped the benefits, but now they're starting to deal with some of the consequences and they don't like them.

Let me ask you this, why do banks make a ton of money off of student loans?

Here's a hint, because the government guarantees the loans and the law doesn't allow you to bankrupt or charge of the debt ever.  So why wouldn't the banks give them to anyone who could fog a mirror?  If the government got out of the loan business then you won't see banks making a ton of money on loans because they wouldn't give them out so freely.  The cost of education would drop like a rock as well because government backed loans are the reason for skyrocketing tuition rates.  That' ole supply and demand thing again, government provides an infinite supply of student loan money so the colleges jack their rates up.

this is exactly how health insurance works today.  you don't need a single payor system to have consumers know nothing about the cost of their healthcare.

Correct, and that is exactly why healthcare "costs" are out of control.  There's no demand control at all.  However, this is only how it works with people who have insurance.  If you give everyone insurance (ACA) or make it single payer then the demand skyrockets and the rise in cost still occurs it just goes to the government or the insurance.  If we then continue allowing half the country to not pay taxes or get free insurance (ACA) then they feel no ill effects and their demand remains infinite.