Economists question sustainability of a single-payer health system

As the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination continues between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, economists continue to debate the cost of one of Sanders' central policy proposals--a single-payer healthcare system. The main challenge to Sanders' math comes from Kenneth Thorpe, a well-respected health economist at Emory University who advised Vermont on its efforts to create a state-level single-payer system, according to The Hill. He argues that Sanders' proposed 8.4 percent hike in payroll and income taxes to pay for the plan would instead have to rise to a 20 percent combined extra tax. In addition, four former chairs of the White House Council of Economic Advisers say that Sanders' plan is not supported by evidence. Yet Gerald Friedman, the University of Massachusetts economist who conducted an analysis of the plan that the candidate cites, has pushed back against the plan's critics. Article