Hacker News Reader

I would adjust the question. Free healthcare can't exist. It costs something, either through taxes or your premium for insurance.

A more appropriate question would be: "If health insurance were more affordable and you were not in danger of being dropped from coverage as a small company or individual, would you start a new company?"

View on HN

What you say is absolutely correct. But the real point of what would be considered public health insurance is that the risks are spread over a much larger group than simply a base of employees. The pricing mechanism is based on the risk of the people in the group. If the group is defined as the employees of the company, then that number is going to depend on the risk factors of the entire group.

If the group is the entire population of a country then you are going to pay a rate that is based on the risks of a very large population. If the people are on average healthy you will pay less. If the people on average are unhealthy you will pay more.

I am assuming that any company or individual covered is covered as a group of everyone the insurer covers. I see no reason for one gov entity to cover everyone. 50 to 100 non-profit co-ops would do the job: enough in each group and enough choice to ensure competition.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com