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If govt. gets ahold of healthcare you can expect that 10-20% for administrative costs to increase. Most of the services you mentioned, police, fire, utilities, are all done on a local level. If we really need some government entity to take over, it should be some form of local government regulating private industry. If government takes over, there would need to be some competing entity or branch of government to provide some artificial balance simulating market competition like we now find in the private market. There would also be a need for strict laws punishing government mishandling of funds or we will end up doing the equivalent of paying the infamous $100 for toilet seats that the federal government coughs up when it uses our tax dollars. I think a better solution is strict govt. regulations on the private health care industry. Government has a horrible track record of self-management and self-regulation when money is involved, they do usually do a better job of regulating other industries, although again it is best handled at a local, state level.
Like Rex, I see problems with adopting a public insurance option. However, Rex's solution of more regulations on private insurers is how we got our current mess. Right now, if I want to buy a simple policy that protects me in case I get ill, I can't. I have to buy the fully loaded Cadillac plan, including hair transplants even if I'm female, and pregnancy coverage even if I'm 60 years old. Imagine the car industry if everyone was required to buy a fully loaded Cadillac. People would be complaining about the unaffordability of cars, and how evil car dealers just won't let them buy a Prius, when in fact the car dealers would want to sell you a Prius but couldn't according to the law. People would say the government must step in and start making cars to compete with the dealers, when really all that would be needed is lifting the regulations on the dealers.
Tax breaks for employers and not individuals also affects portability of plans, which prevents people from keeping their same coverage over their lifetime and running into the pre-existing conditions problem when trying to get new coverage.
Finally, the video is off when trying to assert that a healthcare should be public because of the purported ridiculousness of having private fire coverage. Many cities in Western states DO have private fire coverage, provided by a company called Rural/Metro. Rural/Metro gets a contract for the city and is voted on by the people, and it has never been voted out of a town once it's there. It has higher satisfaction rates than public fire departments, and fewer fires. Why fewer fires? It loses money when there's a fire, so it spends a lot of money visiting people's houses and giving them advice for fire prevention. It therefore has a high rate of effectiveness (counted by number of fires in its coverage area) and customer satisfaction.
Denmark also has a system of private fire fighting. In fact, most firefighters in America are private, because they're volunteers. So to distort private firefighting as a reason private healthcare won't work simply will not cut it.
Healthcare insurance plans are really hard to understand these days. Like the person above already mentioned, there are so many inaccuracies and unnecessary complications arising due to the 'rules'. Do you even know how much trouble-which may include but is not limited to financial instability-one has to deal with if their insurance plan doesn't cover it? I believe no one should die because they cannot afford health care, no one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should be turned down for insurance because of a pre-existing condition. We want our human-friendly America back!
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The IEET is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization registered in the State of Connecticut in the United States.
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