Quote:
Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
I don't get why we attach health insurance in this country to employers. The two have nothing to do with each other.
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I agree completely, this is exactly (one of) the key problem(s) with modern health insurance, and it's a bastardization of market conditions that has led to awful unintended consequences.
However, the solution to fixing this issue isn't necessarily nationalization or "forcing" insurance on people. Indeed, this sort of nationalization would seem to play exactly into the current problems with health insurance - namely, that the insurance companies themselves are the policymaker (pun completely intended).
If you want
affordable medical care for every American, this is a completely different issue than
nationwide health insurance for every American. The entire concept of insurance is pooling risk - simply handing out insurance without additional intake in premiums would be a disaster, and would force the insurance companies themselves to round up more income. Guess how that would happen?
Again - health insurance is a commodity. Medical care is, as well, to a certain extent - but one that can be subsidized by the State. Why do we focus on the former instead of the latter? Why allow the insurance cabal to affect the cost of the latter, period, in a misguided attempt to "have it both ways" and prop up a crappy system?
For the record, neither candidate's plan seems to address this fundamental disconnect in a substantive fashion.