Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Unless the "public option" is free or inexpensive it's snake oil.. and dangerous snake oil at that. [View all]ehrnst
(32,640 posts)unless premiums are charged on a sliding scale, charging more for those who make more. That adds another layer to the administration, and therefore costs, however.
Why would employers even bother offering any subsidies or hr administration of health care coverage if they can just tell people to go get the public option. That would effectively kill any incentive for employers to provide an alternative to the public option - which would then kill any incentive for private insurance to participate, leading to accusations of "YOU SAID WE WOULD BE ABLE TO CHOOSE A PRIVATE OPTION!"
Most countries with UHC require employers to handle some of the subsidizing and administration of coverage, just to spread the labor and costs a bit. People who are employed go through their employer to register for their coverage.
The ACA limited subsidies for people on exchanges to those with lower incomes - that were still too high according to the ACA determined income level for individual state expanded medicaid programs - which several red states refused to implement, and therefore cut people out of help with insurance on the exchanges, but also didn't provide them with medicaid.
Long story short- unless there are conditions limiting people to get the public option (such as the restrictions on Medicare and Medicaid), any employer provided options that include private insurance will go away. Private insurance will pull out of the health care market.
The public "option" will be a misnomer, because it will be the only choice. Which is not what is being promised.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden