Clinton vs. Sanders: ObamaCare or single-payer system?

If you want to see a perfect example of a Democratic initiative that’s blowing up in everyone’s face, look at what is going on with Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS).

Thousands of junior doctors – referring to those with 10 years or less on the job – throughout England have gone on strike today over government plans to change their contracts in ways they feel are detrimental. These doctors, according to the British Medical Association, routinely work over 100 hours per week because of staff shortages, on salaries of as little as $36,000 a year.

Now, the NHS is planning cuts they say are necessary to cover tremendous deficits, and changes which would ultimately make Saturday a regular work day under in order to make medical services more readily available on weekends.

For those of you unfamiliar with the NHS, it is a single-payer system much like the one presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) has proposed. Under a single-payer system, health care is funded by the government (meaning, you, the taxpayer) rather than private insurers. To me, it’s laughable that any serious governmental leader cannot clearly see these single-payer systems – whether you’re talking about England or Canada -- are falling apart.

Now, the other choice that the Democrats believe in is ObamaCare, which has been showcased by the Clinton campaign as they attack Sanders over his health policy. One of the main proponents of this plan, as it pertains to her mother’s campaign, is Chelsea Clinton who has directly attacked Sanders echoing Hillary’s sentiments on the topic. Not only does Hillary Clinton want to keep Obamacare -- she wants to expand the Affordable Care along with other social programs.

"Sen. Sanders wants to dismantle ObamaCare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance," Chelsea said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. "I worry if we give Republicans democratic permission to do that, we'll go back to an era before we had the Affordable Care Act, that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance."

But what have we learned about ObamaCare over the last four years? Satisfaction rates are abysmal. Dropout rates continue to grow because people cannot afford the elevated premiums as well as the astronomical deductibles that they are expected to pay out of pocket. Uninsured patients continue to surface in many markets throughout the United States and emergency rooms continue to be serve central point of care for many people who continue to flood them knowing they will not be turned away, only to leave hospitals with mounting debts in unpaid bills. And on top of all these issues, access to doctors is still highly limited and people have to spend hours navigating the maze of coverage that is ObamaCare.

Before you vote for our next president, I would encourage everyone to read about what’s happening in England, because if we keep going down this road, it will be long before doctors are striking here.