>That's not a healthy private health insurance market; that's an opaque, balkanized system.
"Healthy private health insurance market" sounds to me like an oxymoron. I certainly haven't heard of one. There should be no market for health insurance, or organ trade, or public transportation, or water supply/sanitation. These are costly (in a deregulated economy like in the US) and require heavy subsidies, not a for-profit race to the bottom.
The UK has a national health service that is excellent and yet some people are happy to pay for additional health insurance to cover non-essential and service-related things.
Want gourmet meals and a playstation in your room? That is a perfectly fine use of "extra" health insurance.
Everyone had a right to free primary and secondary school education yet some people opt for private schools - this too is okay.
It is understood that there will be those who buy bottled water where public utilities provide clean drinking water for all. Roughly 10% of the UK population are contributing to private health plans (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/16/private-med...). Apparently, the % of population fully covered by such plans is lower still (at under 1%). While this is a huge waste, this is not what I was alluding to. I have no argument to make if everyone in the US had access to health care comparable to that provided by the NHS.
"Healthy private health insurance market" sounds to me like an oxymoron. I certainly haven't heard of one. There should be no market for health insurance, or organ trade, or public transportation, or water supply/sanitation. These are costly (in a deregulated economy like in the US) and require heavy subsidies, not a for-profit race to the bottom.