Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Doubtless that market is distorted by the tax benefits to employers of providing health insurance. But not for those incentives, employers would be relatively different. Except that consumers have more power in the marketplace when they pool, as through an employer. If everyone was left to purchase health care individually, you'd see a lot more cream-skimming, to the detriment of many of us.
Instead of mandating that people purchase it, and struggling with the resulting enforcement/gap-filling problems, why not provide basic coverage through the government (directly or indirectly) and "make" people pay for it by taxing them?
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One would also have to address the fact that, without the collective purchasing power of employers or the state, insurance companies would simply refuse to insure many of the people most in need. For example, I could not purchase private health insurance. I have a heart condition and diabetes. No company would cover me. Without employer-provided health insurance I would be destitute and, ultimately, dead, due to an inability to pay the costs of my health care out of pocket.
