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A systemic risk to national healthcare systems is that they can be underfunded (or overfunded) in a way that private healthcare can’t because individuals are m
by goodluckchuck 4y ago
A systemic risk to national healthcare systems is that they can be underfunded (or overfunded) in a way that private healthcare can’t because individuals are more diverse and make decisions more attuned to their individual situation. People have different preferences for how and how much they would choose to invest own healthcare, and if everyone is forced to bear one another’s bills, there will inevitably be people who are unhappy with the group’s decisions. Since it’ll be a compromise of different groups, I can imagine it’d be destined to frustrate both sides 90% of the time.
- klabb3 4y agoWell yeah that's how every insurance works, including private ones. You are put in a pool together with others who may be more or less costly than you on average. Not just insurance either. If you're buying stuff at all you're paying a premium for stuff you're often not using, eg customer support, return policies, marketing etc. One you accept that you never have identical cost/benefit with others, we're just talking what level is acceptable, and what services should be covered. People seem fine with paying for fire departments, even though some people live in wooden houses and have candles at night. Healthcare has a similarly low fraud incentive, and is generally not something we "invest" in. Most of the world has recognized that and arrange it through a publicly funded system.