Physicians call for universal, single-payer health care system

In an editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers outlined a proposal to overhaul the nation’s current health care system and replace it with a government-backed, single-payer structure that provides coverage for everyone.“Our nation is at a crossroads,” Adam Gaffney, MD, lead author of the study and fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a press release. “Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act 6 years ago, 30 million Americans remain uninsured, an even greater are underinsured, financial barriers to care like copays and deductibles are rising, bureaucracy is growing, provider networks are narrowing, and medical costs are continuing to climb.”