I applaud the reassertion of the idea that insurance, properly understood, is a vehicle to hedge a rare but catsstrophic event through broad amortization. That sentiment is of a piece with the observation that one of the great problems in health care costs is that the costs of even the mundane procedures are hidden from the consumers. Every knee sprain does not warrant an MRI, but in a world where it costs you a $10.00 co-pay to have either the MRI or the X-ray, what gets chosen?

I doubt that a government in the progressive mood of paternalism will risk exposing the patient to making economic choices like this regarding health care. Why would it, especially after it has argued the whole thing as an inherent right? You can’t put a dollar figure on an inherent right. That means you can’t control costs very well, either, absent the queue L3 spoke of.

So I don’t think this effort is going to go well in America. It’s going to be a costly monster – especially given that the Baby Boomers are now moving en masse to the portions of their lives where health care costs begin their inexhorable rise.