It's not mutually exclusive with a Universal Healthcare plan, for one thing. But I think it's still a worthwhile goal with or without a separate initiative for

It's not mutually exclusive with a Universal Healthcare plan, for one thing. But I think it's still a worthwhile goal with or without a separate initiative for universal healthcare. It brings costs down, because many more people are now on a level playing field. If we stick with the current market-based system, this would make a big difference in actually having it start to function like a market. The average, middle class American will actually have to evaluate the costs of their plan and shop around for the best value, and they will also be very aware of how much they're spending and push for measures to bring down costs. If we do also build up a universal healthcare system, then working, middle class people will end up actually using the universal healthcare system, and again will be incentivized to push to make it work well. As things stand today, people on the "open market" plans are clearly being treated as second class citizens, they're paying more and getting worse coverage than people who have a special connection (whether that's a company plan, union, etc). The taxing is also wonky and unfair, at least if I understand this correctly if I pay for a marketplace plan I'm paying with after-tax money, but if my company pays for my plan it's untaxed. In my opinion there are also additional reasons this would be a net good thing, even if it were merely neutral on the two criteria that you call out. It will give people more freedom to do what they want to do -- right now if you want to quit a job or work only part-time, even if you have a source of income or savings to make it feasible, healthcare is a major hurdle. If you want to start a small business and need to offer healthcare for your employees, it's an even bigger hurdle. I would rather live in a world where it's as easy as possible to make your own path, and people are not beholden to a full-time job to have access to healthcare.