Ralph Nader on Health Care

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has been shaking up the status quo for decades. His first book, Unsafe at Any Speed, criticized auto industry standards and outlined car defects. After its publication in 1965, Nader established the Center for Study of Responsive Law as well as numerous consumer advocacy organizations -- related to health, tax reform, energy, and more -- that now make up Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy organization. He was a presidential candidate in 1996, 2000, and 2004. For years, Nader has made a case for single payer health insurance in the U.S. -- a universal Medicare system that is financed through the government and offers care through the private sector.

Health Insurance: Private/Government

• Establish single-payer Canadian-style health insurance in the U.S.
• Finance health care through the government and deliver it through the private sector.
• Allow patients to choose their own hospitals and doctors.

Medical Costs

• Nader says he would stop the waste of funds in medical billing fraud, estimated by the Government Accounting Office to cost more than $220 billion annually.
• Large savings could come from cutting down on the health care industry's unnecessary administrative expenses, he says, and huge profits.

Health Savings Accounts

• Currently not addressed in platform.