We can compel military service (the draft), but we can't compel health insurance?

[Selatius]

37. Actually, Germany does use private health insurance.

Their system is set up like the ACA but with one major difference.

The Germans have a robust "Public Option" that competes with private insurance on costs, and the laws in Germany mandate a standardized policy that covers all the basics and major necessary medical procedures.

In the United States, you can pick and choose whichever policy you want, but each policy is different with different costs and what is covered and not covered. In Germany, they all have to cover the same things for simplicity's sake and for people's welfare's sake, so people picking a bare-bones "disaster-only" insurance policy to save on premiums never happens.

The Public Option in Germany is robust precisely because it is open to the entire population and not just the poorest segment of the population as conceived in the United States. As a result, something like 85% of the people in Germany are currently enrolled in the public plan because it is run at-cost with no profit mark-ups. The remaining 15% are enrolled in private plans, and many of those are the gold-plated plans that company executives, managers, and board members are given, yet those private plans must also cover the mandated basic care and major necessary medical procedures.

And people are also free to purchase supplemental insurance to enhance their care, such as luxury amenities, premium food, etc., and that's fairly often that Germans do this.