Big questions in health care: Can Minnesota support single-payer?

As Congress takes on the task of revamping health care, MPR News host Tom Weber is turning to big thinkers in the field for their insight on the future of insurance in the United States.

Although Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, strongly supports improvement to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) he fundamentally believes that the ACA does not go far enough.

Sen. Marty has put forward a proposal called the Minnesota Health Plan. It's a single-payer health care system in which the state finances basic health care costs for all residents by retaining the concept of people paying health premiums every month. Those premiums would be paid into the Minnesota Health Plan instead of to a private insurance company.

How would that work? Can Minnesota do single-payer alone? And can we afford it?

To hear Sen. Marty talk about single-payer programs, use the audio player above.

Other big questions in health care: