Proposal:
The US government should stick to the single payer system that has worked well for Canada.
Brief Analysis:
The public option being proposed in the United States has all the makings of a disaster. Now I usually stick to economics; however, the obvious game being played by the health care industry enrages me. One of two scenarios will result, either the companies will not lower their premiums, or they will.
Lets look at what appears to be the winning solution, that is, if the public option leads private companies to reducing their premiums. Then, these companies will simply increase their rejection rates and only "insure" the lowest risk people available. Most people who fall in this boat are young adults who will grow old, eventually falling out of this boat. As a result, these people will end up being pushed off the private plans and back into the public plan. This leads to customers who save for their rainy day by putting all their money in bucket A, but are told that they can only withdraw from bucket B. Basically, everybody looses except the health care companies!
On the flip side, if the health care companies keep their premiums higher, then the only way they can be surviving in the market is if they have enough demand. Which would only exist if the public option is poorly run due to corruption or if corporate deals force employees into expensive plans.
Personal Opinion:
I want to point out strongly though, the single payer system would be unquestionably amazing for America. The Canadian system's biggest enemy is the fact that doctor's leave to work for the states so they can sacrifice their morals for more money. Once the private sector is non-existent, both countries would gain better health care systems, Canadian doctors would stay in Canada, while the US citizens would get health care. (US has more than enough doctors, when doctors aren't paid ridiculous amounts, general practitioners will begin working regular hours, take on more patients and stop retiring early). As a society we invest a lot of money into educating doctors, socially they are given a lot of respect and unfortunately all of the incentives of the current system encourage them to be lazy. How? Simple, if I were to double your salary tomorrow, would you consider working half the time? I believe most people would end up working 75% of the time they use to before, assuming you are paid well to begin with.
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