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Many other OECD states feature private insurance that's (at least largely) not employer-provided. Private coverage may be the main coverage for a large proporti

Many other OECD states feature private insurance that's (at least largely) not employer-provided. Private coverage may be the main coverage for a large proportion, or even majority, of the population. How does it differ from the US? 1) Less emphasis on or no norm of employers providing healthcare (and this may not be encouraged through tax law, leaving little reason to do it versus just paying more money) 2) These are often more tightly-regulated than in the US—coverage minimums (we kinda have these now, in the US, sort of, so that's nice), disallowing for-profit insurance, et c. 3) There's often a government fallback plan 4) AFAIK every single other OECD state leverages price controls in some fashion, whether de facto or de jure (usually de jure, in the countries with strong private insurance markets), which affects everything, including the price of private health insurance.

ethbr0 3y ago
ACA definitely moved us closer to that model. The biggest misses were providing a government fallback plan (aka Medicare-if-no-other, which I don't think is part of it?) and regulating negotiations between providers and payers (so as to avoid payer combination into a few large companies, who can then get the best prices from payers).
lumb63 3y ago
I feel like a broken record, as I’m always saying what you’re saying when people discuss health insurance. Most folks want to trash public health care under the quick quip of “that’s socialism” or trash “privatized health care” with the current employer-provided system as a proxy for “privatized health care”. People get so caught up defending “their side”, that they forget the objective is to get a better health care system. IMO, a huge number of the problems that exist with US health care (non-portability between jobs, people stuck with plans ill-suited to their needs, lack of access to affordable health care) could be easily addressed by a ban on employer-provided healthcare with a provision to ensure the costs are forwarded to the workers as monetary compensation. Workers can go choose a plan that works for them.

ethbr0 3y ago

ACA definitely moved us closer to that model. The biggest misses were providing a government fallback plan (aka Medicare-if-no-other, which I don't think is part of it?) and regulating negotiations between providers and payers (so as to avoid payer combination into a few large companies, who can then get the best prices from payers).

lumb63 3y ago

I feel like a broken record, as I’m always saying what you’re saying when people discuss health insurance. Most folks want to trash public health care under the quick quip of “that’s socialism” or trash “privatized health care” with the current employer-provided system as a proxy for “privatized health care”. People get so caught up defending “their side”, that they forget the objective is to get a better health care system. IMO, a huge number of the problems that exist with US health care (non-portability between jobs, people stuck with plans ill-suited to their needs, lack of access to affordable health care) could be easily addressed by a ban on employer-provided healthcare with a provision to ensure the costs are forwarded to the workers as monetary compensation. Workers can go choose a plan that works for them.