Our fragmented, for-profit health care system is failing patients and providers alike, forcing many providers who are unwilling to work in unsafe environments away from the bedside and leaving patients waiting longer for care.
According to a new Axios article aptly titled “Health shrinkflation: Patients wait more for less,” health care wait times are increasing and provider-patient relationships are worsening under our current system.
As the article notes, “The U.S. spends more on health care than almost anywhere else. But increasingly patients are getting less in return, and enduring long waits to get not as much face-time with their clinician.” According to health records company Tebra, 17% of patients had to wait one to three months for their latest doctor’s appointment.1
Part of this is due to pent-up demand for health care services following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as 43% of patients reported experiencing longer wait times for appointments since the pandemic. But it’s also because hospitals are trying to make providers do more with less staff and resources — an unsustainable practice that puts profits over patients.
One of the common misconceptions about a single-payer health care system is that it would result in longer patient wait times. But contrary to popular belief, Medicare for All wouldn’t result in longer wait times – in fact, we already have longer wait times than many countries with single-payer systems, and they’re increasing under our for-profit system.2
There is no way out of this toxic cycle unless we move away from the current for-profit model and establish Medicare for All.
The more we can inform and increase the public demand for a single-payer system that guarantees health care for all regardless of a person’s ability to pay, the sooner we can achieve it and get the care we need when we need it.
Read the latest article from Axios and KFF’s study comparing health care costs and outcomes across different countries, then forward this email to friends and family and encourage them to do the same!
In solidarity,
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All
Sources:
1 - Health shrinkflation: Patients wait more for less
2 - International Comparison of Health Systems
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