[orangecat]

I continue to not understand the position that the default provider of health insurance has to be either your employer or the government. What makes it fundamentally different from housing, food, or transportation, where you just pay money and there's assistance for people who can't afford it?

[erik_seaberg]

This was a mistake the US government made in World War II—they made it illegal for wages to change in response to actual shortages of workers, so employers competed by offering health insurance and other perks instead of more pay.

[BurningFrog]

One of Hitler's lesser known crimes!

[jmspring]

Companies have leverage due to size that individuals do not. Private insurance for worse coverage than I have now (and mine is good) is almost 2x what I and my employer pay.

[nirimda]

So why can't you and a thousand of your closest friends get together and organise private health insurance for you as a collective? Then you get the size leverage. You would also be able to pay off the risks that one person might face, because although some of you will have high health care demands, chances are some of you won't. Isn't that how it's supposed to work? By competition, arbitrarge, etc?

[alistairSH]

Group negotiating power.

Tax implications (maybe - not sure how the credits/deductions work today).