The ’single payer’ in single payer health insurance refers to one, centralized source for collecting and distributing fees and benefits. These can be a public service run by state or federal government, or it could be a private enterprise. Most often, this single payer is the government.

Health

Under a single payer health insurance system, hospitals, doctors and medical companies often run independently of the central, ’single’ payer. Becoming a doctor remains a private decision and a privately run business. The difference with single payer health insurance systems is who those doctors end up billing. In the case of single payer health insurance, all doctors would send the bill to the central, ’single’ paying institution. So single payer health insurance changes very little from a patient’s perspective in terms of care.

Insurance

You might think single payer health insurance means that one organization runs everything as a giant agency. That is the case in some places, like the United Kingdom. However, many single payer health insurance systems are limited to collecting fees. For patients familiar with private health insurance, the system works in the same way, allowing access to private doctors and other health resources. A single payer health insurance agency is, as it says, a single payer. It is not the single provider of care.

So: What is single payer health insurance?

Single payer health insurance is a system where one, central, ’single payer’ collects fees and pays out to private, independent doctors, hospitals or companies for their health services.

Now, if you are ever asked ‘What is Single Payer Health Insurance?” you’ll have an answer.

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