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Libertarians and socialists agree that having employers provide health insurance is a staggeringly idiotic system. Libertarians would replace it with individual
by orangecat 14y ago
Libertarians and socialists agree that having employers provide health insurance is a staggeringly idiotic system. Libertarians would replace it with individual policies, and socialists would replace it with single payer. I favor the former (with subsidies for people who can't afford it due to poverty or preexisting conditions), but either would be much better than what we have now.
Unfortunately the average voter wants both "free" healthcare, and doesn't want the government running it, so every employer ends up being an insurance broker as well.
- guelo 14y agoObamacare is basically the system that you say you favor.
- zanny 14y agoWe still have yet to see what comes of it in 2014. I'm not hopeful, but the foundations have been laid for much worse that produced reasonable results.
- orangecat 14y agoObamacare increases the burden on employers, and generally prohibits high-deductible health insurance policies that are actually insurance (as opposed to comprehensive policies which cover minor and predictable expenses). It's probably still better than the status quo, but it means we lose the option of going with a plan that's actually good like Wyden-Bennett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_Americans_Act).
- dmix 14y agoSource that obamacare = single payer system? I'm not fully familiar with it but I've never heard it described that way.
- mgkimsal 14y agoRight now we have neither - not sure why we couldn't have both. "Single payer" with adjunct private policies for those who want more than what the basic system provides.