However, Canada, the UK, Spain and Italy are all single-payer (i.e. no insurance, government pays for healthcare directly), and Germany and Canada are effectively single-payer (there is insurance but the government provides it). So I think it is fair to say that most universal healthcare systems in the industrialized, Western world ARE single payer.
Not fair:
single payer:
UK -> though there is still a small private insurance buy-up market (see BUPA)
Canada - private insurance is ILLEGAL. This is important.
Italy -> Has a small % private hospitals and insurance
Finland -> I'll give you this one, there's not much of a private market here.
not single payer (with government options, all but U.S. are universal)
U.S.
France
Australia
Sweden
Norway
Luxembourg
Iceland
Germany -> I don't see why you are saying it's single payer??
Spain -> 15% hold private insurance and go to private hospitals??
New Zealand
Netherlands
Japan* - no it's not Western but I don't see why it should be excluded from this conversation?
Switzerland
Austria
Belgium
As far as I can tell, the only place that has 0 private insurance is Canada, where it's illegal. Yet politicians insist on comparing expansion of the public option to Canadian style health care?? C'mon. Seems like all you have to do is not make private insurance illegal for to still exist.