When you "privatize" something, doesn't that mean that you have to show a profit?

[mwooldri]

4. Nope, just that the service is run not by a public entity.

The British Railways is an example of privatization gone right and wrong. The profits are kept by the companies, the losses are absorbed by the government. A couple of companies thought that the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh would be a money maker. Nevertheless this is one notable example of where a private company (National Express) walked away and where the government had to step in. Fortunately Richard Branson (who knows how to run a railway) stepped up and is now running things on that line. If this is an example of what can happen to a railway... what would happen if Medicare was fully privatized?