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Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger

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142 points helloworld | 3 comments | 17 Aug 16 17:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.62s | 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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1. mathattack ◴[17 Aug 16 20:23 UTC] No.12308127[source]▶
I'm not well enough informed to give a complete opinion on what's better, because it's a complicated solution. I do know some reasons why a public option might not be good. (This doesn't mean it's the wrong option - just considerations)

1 - When you eliminate competition, you lose innovation and smart cost control. Look at most monopolies for evidence of this.

2 - You wind up forcing a "one size fits all" on everyone. What if some people prefer a bare bones service, and others prefer an advanced one?

3 - How many things does the government really run well?

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2. st3v3r ◴[17 Aug 16 20:56 UTC] No.12308398[source]▶
1 is disproven when you look at other countries with single payer, and they have a much better handle on their healthcare costs than we do.

3 - about the same amount as the private sector.

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3. mathattack ◴[17 Aug 16 21:43 UTC] No.12308725[source]▶
On #1 there is a lot of data that suggests single payer can be cheaper. On innovation, other countries lag.

I disagree on #3, at least in the US.

Would we rather have Health Care run like UPS or the Postal Service?