You are right that modern “Health Insurance” is not very much like insurance – it covers much more than catastrophes.
Many here, however, may not appreciate that private insurance simply does not work. There are about 45,000,000 without medical coverage in the US. There are only about 6,000,000 people (2% of the population) who buy their own coverage.
The reason is not just the weird system where employers pay. It is also that there is a complete market failure in individual health insurance. You have to be very healthy to buy it at all. If you can’t buy it, you either get a job that has it (if you can), or you risk all the assets you acquired to the first significant medical event that hits.
Many people work for corporations ONLY because it’s the only way for them to get insurance. This results in economic friction. Older, more experienced people are more likely to have pre-existing conditions, which means they can’t participate in entrepreneurial start-ups without risking all their assets on a health event.
Not only that, but the individual is raped by the medical institutions. I saw a procedure that retailed for $50,000 (cardiac ablation) where the insurance company only had to pay $14,000 and that was accepted as full payment. If you needed this procedure and didn’t have insurance… well, you owe the whole $50,000.
Americans are properly concerned that the medical payments system in the US has broken down, putting all but the rich and the very poor at risk of losing their assets when they fall through the cracks. Medical bills are the largest cause of bankruptcy in the US.
The free market will simply not “solve” this problem – unless we institute a policy of only treating people to the extent they can pay. Since that will simply not sell, the government is going to be asked to settle this and ensure some form of universal coverage. Accept that *fact* and the debate becomes a bit more clear.
