Physicians for National Health Program

Take a look at this FAQ from the Physicians for National Health Program (PNHP)
It lays to rest many of the myths of health care reform. Here is an example,

Over sixty percent (60.5 percent) of health spending in the U.S. is funded by government. Official figures for 2005 peg government’s share of total health expenditure at 45.4 percent, but this excludes two items:
1. Tax subsidies for private insurance, which cost the federal treasury $188.6 billion in 2004. These predominantly benefit wealthy taxpayers.
2. Government purchases of private health insurance for public employees such as police officers and teachers. Government paid private insurers $120.2 billion for such coverage in 2005: 24.7 percent of the total spending by U.S. employers for private insurance.

You see we taxpayers already pay ...

...the lions share of health care costs in the country. That's because of two groups of people who are already covered by government programs, children and the elderly.
A single payer system that covered everyone in the country, including Town of Dartmouth employees, would save our town over $4 million dollars in health insurance costs. That's money that you and I already pay for health insurance. But there's more savings than that. Town employees pay half of the premiums for their health insurance. Those employees would get all that money too, instead of paying it for insurance.
I'm sure that most of you pay something in addition to what your employer pays for health insurance. What if you didn't have to pay those premiums? What if your employer didn't? I haven't heard anyone on the teevee mentioning that savings when talking about the costs of the program.
Bottom line is that we pay too much for less effective health care and don't even cover everyone. Most other industrial countries get more and better health care at lower cost and cover everyone. Don't you think that our country, the wealthiest and most advanced in the world could do the same?