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Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger

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142 points helloworld | 2 comments | 17 Aug 16 17:52 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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seibelj ◴[17 Aug 16 18:06 UTC] No.12306806[source]▶
Can anyone succinctly explain the benefits of having a market for private health insurance companies, rather than a single provider of health insurance (government, aka "public option")? Can a capitalist case be made for their existence? Does the lack of a large private insurance market in countries with government-provided health insurance cause lots of inefficiencies and waste?
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njkanjsd ◴[17 Aug 16 18:08 UTC] No.12306825[source]▶
The healthcare system in countries like France, Canada, Germany is much more efficient and provides better healthcare to most of it's citizens than the US healthcare system pre and post obamacare.

https://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/46508904.pdf

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/press-releases/...

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vidarh ◴[17 Aug 16 18:13 UTC] No.12306890[source]▶
Germany is mixed private/public insurance.

EDIT: So does France.

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1. danielweber ◴[17 Aug 16 18:16 UTC] No.12306930[source]▶
All those countries are very different.

There's this cartoon understanding the health care system, where the US has system A, and every other country in the world has system B. You will find people on both sides of the aisle believing this. Even though Germany is closer to the US than it is to France.

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2. vidarh ◴[17 Aug 16 18:21 UTC] No.12306986[source]▶
The big difference with respect to Germany, though, is that they are not afraid to regulate their health sector. The problem with the US model is not so much private vs. public, but a matter of lobbyists and ideology getting in the way of regulating it in the way that makes sense for people instead of for healthcare providers and insurers.

(France also has a mix of private and public healthcare insurance)