I disagree. It has a purpose, and ignoring that will cause any strategy for heading toward universal coverage to fail. Keep it, but as a voluntary supplement to an admittedly under-funded single-payer universal healthcare (call it Medicare, to drop the Obama/Trump fight) that has big gaps and caps. Let employers continue to provide coverage for employees, starting first with funding the federal and state governments’ portion of medicare costs at a per capita large pool rate, and continuing with any supplemental costs for a traditional level of additional coverage. The private market can continue to flourish as subcontractors in states that arrange their medicare that way. Other states can organize a state-run medicare program if they wish, within federally established guidelines. Citizens who dislike the program in their state can vote in their state legislature elections to effect the kind of market they want and, if that is ineffective, can ‘vote with their feet’ by moving to a state that meets their needs.
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