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Originally posted by ltl/fb
If the state coverage were not as good as the private coverage you had offered previously, and if employees actually knew what coverage was involved (unlikely), you would likely have to pay them more to make up for the coverage they were no longer getting. Or, you'd have to keep providing coverage. Of course, employees rarely make decisions about where to work based on the type of health coverage.
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No, they say "here, I make $400 per week, and I have health coverage. There, I make $400 per week, and I get state coverage". I think it evens out in their minds. If you want to put in stuff about "what if the state coverage isn't as good", well, if my aunt had balls . . .
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Your last sentence makes no sense. You are forgetting about the non-covered people who would have coverage. You aren't taking into account that those people go get emergency care after things get really bad, and that's more expensive than getting things taken care of up front, it doesn't get paid for by the people getting the care (because they can't afford it) so other health care prices are raised to cover those costs -- think of it kind of like shoplifting, which raises retail prices, but without the criminal stuff, the people who do get the emergency care but can't afford it frequently end up with fucked-up credit, the tracking of which raises prices and the costs of which make it harder for such people to drag themselves out of poverty.
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I understand all of that. There will be a benefit of coverage where there was none. I was simply pointing out (what I think was) Hank's point, that such a system is self-perpetuating and usually more expensive. I have not seen many systems where the government can do tasks that are being done by the private sector for as cheaply as the private sector does them.
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So it's more than supplying "slightly cheaper widgets," though of course at the time I made the argument really the sole outcome I was looking for was cheaper widgets. All this other stuff is just the unintended consequences.
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You say "unintended consequences" like they are rare, and surprising.
