A common refrain in today's health care debate is that the United States is the only major industrial country without single-payer, government-run universal health care. Bernie Sanders deserves credit for making single-payer a topic of conversation, particularly when it's not the key factor that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world.
As Stuart Butler of the Brookings Institute explains, “When I emigrated to the United States in 1975 from the UK, I was shocked to discover that my health insurance would be chosen and controlled by my employer. No other major country organizes health coverage in this way. I soon discovered why the United States is different. Employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI), which is actually part of my paycheck my employer earmarks for coverage, is treated by the IRS as tax-free compensation. If I use the same money to buy insurance myself, I pay tax on it.”
