Single Payer Health Insurance

The Supreme Court’s Chaoulli decision, disallowing prohibition of private health insurance in Quebec, raises questions of efficiency and equity in delivering health care. Paul M. Jacobson suggests that, however the service is delivered, a single-payer system (government) remains the most efficient model. He argues that alternative insurance will create incentives for service providers to move into more remunerative market segments and away from the principle of universality. He also suggests “a fragmented insurance market will lead to increased inefficiencies in the system.”