Single-payer health care is the financing of health care from a single insurance pool, which in all existing and proposed cases are government run. Under a single-payer system, universal health care for an entire population is financed from a pool to which many parties--employees, employers, the state--have contributed. Single-payer is a market in which one buyer faces many sellers (monopsony).
Single-payer health insurance collects all medical fees, and then pays for all services, through a "single" government (or government-related) source.[1] In wealthy nations, this kind of publicly managed insurance is typically extended to all citizens and legal residents. Examples include Australia's Medicare, Canada's Medicare, the United Kingdom's National Health Service, and Taiwan's National Health Insurance. Medicare in the United States is an example of a single-payer system for a specified, limited group of persons.