Bernie’s Single Payer is a Choice Slayer

Have you heard about Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan for “single payer” health care? If so, have you truly thought about what it mean to you and your family? Let’s talk for a minute.

That’s how we used to run the U.S. Postal Service before it got competition from Federal Express and UPS. There was one price for a package, another for a letter. Take it or leave it. And it wasn’t “free,” either. You paid your taxes, but you also had to pay for the stamps.

The term “single payer” is misleading.

What Bernie really means is “single provider.” There may still be privately employed physicians or private hospitals. But they will be private in name only. All of the prices and procedures will be mandated from Washington, D.C. There is a fancy economic term for that.: It’s called a monopoly.

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We used to have similar government control over airline prices before President Jimmy Carter — a Democrat — deregulated them in the 1970s.

If you wanted to fly from New York to L.A., there was one fare, no matter the airline, and it wasn’t cheap! If a new airline wanted to compete with a lower fare or new type of service, forget about it. In fact, if you’re as old as Bernie or Hillary, you may even remember when discount electronics stores were illegal. Everyone paid the same price for a Sony television no matter where it was purchased.

It was only when that was declared an illegal monopoly that discount stores like Best Buy began to pop up. Before then, it was illegal for stores to compete on price.

This is exactly what Bernie has in mind for health care.

Single payer means that the U.S. government gets to decide what procedures and medications to pay for and how much. That means Washington, D.C., has to authorize, and set the price, for every single doctor, hospital, radiology center, physical therapist and pharmacy in the United States.

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If you think that will save money, think again.

Medicare today is bankrupt. The taxes and premiums you and your employer pay over your entire life pay for only 30 percent of the care you get.

Some people say health care is too important to leave to the free market. That’s why Bernie calls himself a socialist.

Well — sarcasm alert — if you want another example of a really effective government monopoly, think about your local school system. But eliminate local control, local taxes and local school boards.

Imagine instead that every school system across the country gets the same stipend from the federal government, with the same prescribed curriculum. You may be able to hire your own teachers, but salaries are uniform and are set in Washington. You can’t offer more to hire a better teacher, or to encourage more people to go into teaching. Merit pay will be illegal. You probably will be barred from paying extra for an after-school tutoring session or music lesson. And if you don’t like your child’s school or curriculum, there won’t be any choice at the local level.

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You will have to run for Congress. If you’re lucky, you can make the schools offer advanced math or high school wrestling.

Otherwise, enjoy what they’re offering — because there won’t be any other choices.

Others may say, “Well, at least the old government monopoly for telephone service or airline tickets was fair.” Whether you were rich or poor, everybody paid the same high long-distance bills, and no one had inexpensive cordless phones, touch-tone dialing, caller ID, voicemail or call forwarding. Forget about cellphones. If you liked the simple but relatively expensive telephone phone service of the 1960s, or the airline fares of the 1960s, you’ll love Medicare for All.

No wonder Bernie wants it. He must be nostalgic!

We should note that, even in districts with mediocre public school systems today, the kids from highly educated and motivated families do just fine. By the same token, even with a mediocre single-payer health care system operating as the lowest common denominator, people who are highly educated, motivated and disciplined will do OK. You can still do a lot to keep yourself healthy: Wash your hands before eating, keep fit and trim, don’t abuse alcohol or drugs, get seven to eight hours of sleep, get immunized. After all, the level of medical care we had in the 1970s when Bernie and Hillary were young wasn’t so terrible!

In hindsight, based on medical improvements since then, there were a lot of unnecessary cancer and heart disease deaths. But we didn’t know what we were missing. That will be the same with “single payer.” There will be nothing to compare it to. That’s the beauty of a government monopoly.

Our current health care system, of course, isn’t working that well, either. But the answer is that we need more competition, not less. That’s what Obama promised. But his incompetently drafted Obamacare law did the opposite. It’s time to fulfill Obama’s promises, not renege on them.

Dr. Ramin Oskoui, a cardiologist in the Washington, D.C., area, is CEO of Foxhall Cardiology PC.