[soco]

Oh but they can be just fine, you only need to look outside the States to see it working. They're not perfect either, don't start me on it, but I can see exactly that idea working in Switzerland: the state making the rules for the private providers _and_enforcing_ them. It might be against "muh freedom to rip everybody off" but I personally refuse to call that "freedom".

[Tainnor]

OTOH, some important things in Switzerland are still state-owned, like the railways or the post.

Some people treat Switzerland like some libertarian paradise, but in reality, while Switzerland does tend to be more economically liberal than many of its neighbours, it's usually pretty pragmatic and not committed to some ideology.

[soco]

True, I was thinking rather about the health insurance system as a working example of private companies being controlled by state-defined rules.