4 ms·

> maybe 8-10% of the country is out of a job what do all these people do in the UK, Scandinavia and other countries with single-payer health care?

Spivak 6y ago
Hopefully something more useful but the point is that nobody wants to be the administration that created 10%+ unemployment overnight and the ensuing ripples.
- pessimizer 6y ago
  Instead of employing them to shuffle paper, we could just directly pay them to burn money?
nicoffeine 6y ago
They work in small businesses or for themselves[1] because they don't have to worry about health insurance. Or they become a teacher[2]. Or they don't have to work at all because they are raising kids or getting a better education - again, because they don't have to worry about health insurance. Eventually, they would join other parts of the economy in the US, but in the short term, the unemployment rate would spike and the economy in general would suffer. [1] https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/small-business-2009-08.pdf https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/small-business-2... [2] https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Education/Secondary-education/Teachers/Per-capita https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Education/Se...
- kelnos 6y ago
  > Eventually, they would join other parts of the economy in the US, but in the short term, the unemployment rate would spike and the economy in general would suffer. And if an administration managed to get this through in the beginning of their first term, they'd never get re-elected, and most of the Congresspeople who supported it would be out as well. The next group voted in would dismantle it and put things back the way they were. Any plan to dismantle the US private insurance industry will need to ensure a very soft, cushy landing for the people employed in that industry, or it'll never work.

Spivak 6y ago

Hopefully something more useful but the point is that nobody wants to be the administration that created 10%+ unemployment overnight and the ensuing ripples.

pessimizer 6y ago
Instead of employing them to shuffle paper, we could just directly pay them to burn money?

nicoffeine 6y ago

They work in small businesses or for themselves[1] because they don't have to worry about health insurance. Or they become a teacher[2]. Or they don't have to work at all because they are raising kids or getting a better education - again, because they don't have to worry about health insurance. Eventually, they would join other parts of the economy in the US, but in the short term, the unemployment rate would spike and the economy in general would suffer. [1] https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/small-business-2009-08.pdf https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/small-business-2... [2] https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Education/Secondary-education/Teachers/Per-capita https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Education/Se...

kelnos 6y ago
> Eventually, they would join other parts of the economy in the US, but in the short term, the unemployment rate would spike and the economy in general would suffer. And if an administration managed to get this through in the beginning of their first term, they'd never get re-elected, and most of the Congresspeople who supported it would be out as well. The next group voted in would dismantle it and put things back the way they were. Any plan to dismantle the US private insurance industry will need to ensure a very soft, cushy landing for the people employed in that industry, or it'll never work.