A recent survey found that physicians are trending toward support of a single-payer health care system in the United States. (here) Merritt Hawkins and Associates is a national employment agency for doctors. They surveyed 70,000 physicians, received 1,000 responses, and compared the results to their study of ten years ago.

In 2008, 58 percent of doctors contacted opposed a single-payer health care system. This year, 56 percent either strongly or somewhat favored a single-payer system.

Also this year, LinkedIn surveyed 500 physicians and the results were similar. (here) In this study, 48 percent of doctors favored a “Medicare for all” system and 32 percent opposed it.

Since there are over 900,000 licensed physicians in the United States (here), the survey results may not be representative of doctors in general. The results also may not reflect the opinions of specific specialties.

Responses are likewise dependant on how questions are asked. What if “Medicare for all” was replaced by “Medicaid for all” or by “the Veterans Administration health care system for all”? It is doubtful that doctors would be as eager to place all Americans in either of these government-run, single-payer systems.

The surveys don’t take into account the fact that a higher percent of physicians are now employed by hospitals or large groups than ten years ago. (here) More doctors are now on salaries, with or without performance bonuses, and are isolated from the financial aspects of running a practice. In this context, a single-payer system may philosophically sound great, but is detached from the reality of paying the practice’s overhead and paying the bills.

Any “Medicare for all” plan would have an enormous cost to all taxpayers, or would add tremendously to the national debt. (here) The demand for health care will always be greater than the supply. Either patients, as consumers, will decide their own health care needs or unseen government bureaucrats will ration health care for Americans.