‘Single-Payer’ Is The Hot New Buzz Word. But What Actually Does It Mean?

The Washington Post: Single Payer System: A Healthcare Alternative To Affordable Care Act?
As Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act continue in the background, some Democrats are starting to eye a new health policy goal: implementing a single-payer system. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a single-payer bill in mid-September with 16 Democratic co-sponsors — 16 more than he got when he introduced the bill two years earlier. But how is the health-care system funded now, and how would “single-payer” change that? (Soffen, 10/17)

Pioneer Press: MN Governors Race: Support Grows For Single-Payer Health Care
In the midst of the divide and confusion over health insurance’s future, Minnesota Democrats who would be governor are near united in their prescriptions: Universal and single-payer is the way forward. In a recent debate before a union-member crowd, the half-dozen Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates gave nods to supporting universal health care, meaning everyone would be covered by health insurance. Four of the six proudly said they supported a single-payer health care model, meaning a publicly financed system. Last week, Democrat Rebecca Otto, the state’s auditor, came out with a lengthy Minnesota-based plan to finance health care. (Stassen-Berger, 10/17)

And, not all Democrats want to go as extreme as single-payer —

The Hill: Dems Introduce Public Option For ObamaCare
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Tuesday introduced a bill to add a government-run “public option” plan to ObamaCare, modeled on Medicare. The plan, part of a long-running debate in the Democratic Party about how far to go in expanding government-run health insurance, would move ObamaCare to the left but does not go as far as Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) "Medicare for all" plan. (Sullivan, 10/17)