That's a private system on top of a universal public one, no? It's not an option as in "instead of private insurance, you can do this, but you can also forego t

That's a private system on top of a universal public one, no? It's not an option as in "instead of private insurance, you can do this, but you can also forego this and use only private insurance". You have access to public care, period, and can pay for extra on top from the private system. Right? [EDIT] To clarify, "public option" proposals in the US involve a government-run insurer operating on the same market as private insurers, not any kind of universal or default coverage. There are lots of systems with private components or additions or even that are primarily private (with heavy regulation and price controls, typically) but I'm not aware of any that do what US public option proposals have called for. US public option proposals that have made it as far as bills have also come with restrictions, like only allowing those without employer-sponsored insurance options available to choose to pay for a public option, which would almost certainly have done weird and undesirable things to the risk pools for the public plans.