All of these are true, but that doesn't mean it won't work. I'm much more inclined to be cynical about the government going into business themselves* than about the government regulating private industry in a market that it doesn't have a stake in.
Incidentally, the option I like most is to have health insurance companies that are non-profit, member-owned institutions, kind of like credit unions, with similar membership "requirements". (In Utah, the requirement for most credit unions is just that you live in a certain county, or even that you live in the state of Utah.) But I haven't heard this discussed as an option so, whatever.
*Where they are a competitor but also set the rules for the marketplace, and can also partially fund themselves with tax money, there won't be any real competition, and when the private companies go out of business all we'll be left with will be shitty government run health insurance options. But I'm sure you've heard this argument before and have some reason for thinking it won't happen this way or thinking that it wouldn't be bad if it did.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-08-29 03:22 am (UTC)Incidentally, the option I like most is to have health insurance companies that are non-profit, member-owned institutions, kind of like credit unions, with similar membership "requirements". (In Utah, the requirement for most credit unions is just that you live in a certain county, or even that you live in the state of Utah.) But I haven't heard this discussed as an option so, whatever.
*Where they are a competitor but also set the rules for the marketplace, and can also partially fund themselves with tax money, there won't be any real competition, and when the private companies go out of business all we'll be left with will be shitty government run health insurance options. But I'm sure you've heard this argument before and have some reason for thinking it won't happen this way or thinking that it wouldn't be bad if it did.