Yes, ObamaCare is better than nothing -- and, for the United States, a huge improvement. Still, it's silly policy that puts preserving private insurance company profits ahead of what's best for patients. A common myth is that such a 'market-based' system works really well in Switzerland and the Swiss are very pleased: NOT.
The proposal of creating a single fund for health insurance would be accepted by voters if the ballot for the initiative were held today, according to a poll commissioned by the pharmaceutical lobby group Interpharma.Yes, the Swiss want to replace the insanity of financing basic health coverage -- it's all the same basic plan, anyway, so why the need for 60 companies to sell it?! -- with national single-payer insurance:About 65 per cent of the population would approve the proposal and 28 per cent would reject it, according to the first poll conducted on the issue. The result is still not very conclusive, as only about 31 per cent of people surveyed said they would actually participate in the vote.
In 2014 or 2015, the initiative for public health insurance will be put to a nationwide vote, which if accepted will see current providers of basic cover replaced by a single public fund. Under Swiss law, health insurance is compulsory, and residents currently may choose between offerings of about 60 companies which provide coverage.
And, lest you feel sad and start crying for the 'Aetnas and Cignas' of Switzerland -- they won't disappear entirely when voters, presumably, give them the boot:
The initiative – supported by the centre-left Social Democrats and by the Greens as well as by patient and consumer organisations –would leave only supplemental insurance in the hands of private companies.Folks, this is how private insurance is supposed to work in the field of health care. It's positively insane to think there is any value to having 60 different organizations 'compete' to provide the exact same, government-mandated benefits -- but, there is a role for these companies to provide folks with unnecessary -- but highly desirable -- 'extras' (i.e. private rooms, coverage of government-mandated cost-sharing, etc.) if they wish.
This is not another diary from an ungrateful Democrat -- ObamaCare is a huge improvement over our existing non-system. But, I refuse to believe that mandatory-purchasing-of-private insurance is the end of our nation's health care journey. The Swiss are showing us, as many of us hope, too, that it is only the beginning of a journey to a truly rational system: Medicare for all.