Can Single-Payer kill two massive birds with one stone?

[steelmania75]

The first bird is quality coverage for all Americans, basically the kind the people in Congress get.

The second bird is decreasing rising deficits.

I've heard reports that single-payer could save 800 billion, but does it save money for the federal budget, or does it save money for a 1 trillion dollar healthcare plan being planned out by Congress?

[Oregone]

1. Not without increasing taxes, it probably wouldn't

The US may already be able to fund single-payer at the current tax level, but what does that leave left over as surplus? Nothing. Where is the savings? Its in the pockets of the consumers that used to pay it to private insurers. You wont decrease the deficit unless you take in more money than you spend. Enacting single-payer wont significantly alter the budget alone without a tax adjustment.

[patrice]

2. SP will make an American Renaissance of Entrepreneurship possible; as birds go

that one's a whopper.