That's how it used to be in many European countries. Insurance is an old concept that predates the modern nation state. Problem is that in an unregulated market, private will not keep a big enough buffer to avoid ruination because that hurts profits. In the 19th century a lot of upper class people had such insurances for their businesses which turned out to be worthless because when disaster struck they found that the money wasn't there. Gradually such worthless insurance funds were nationalized and became the foundations of many European welfare systems.
Kinda yes. But it isn't competitive when you cannot even pick your own health insurance company nor see prices for medical care (or see what is in/out of network).
Splitting employers from health insurance is one of several required changes that needs to happen before the supposed hand of capitalism can allow the market to get healthier.
I have no idea if it would work, but the status quo is so unhealthy at the very least improvement competition/choice could improve that somewhat.
>But it isn't competitive when you cannot even pick your own health insurance company
There's plenty of employers that don't offer healthcare, and you are not obligated to take it if your employer does offer it. You can always buy your own health insurance.
And pay substantially more for the same product. The individual insurance marketplace isn't competitive, plus you're also giving the federal government a free loan (since employer insurance is pre-tax dollars, individual plans get a refund after the tax return).
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html