While thinking about the idea of an altruistic, fair "public option" for health insurance, I started trying to figure out why something like it doesn't already exist. (Or maybe it does?) The assumption seems to be that health insurance companies are causing problems through systematic greed, and the public option would help keep them honest. But, if this is the case, why isn't there an organization doing this already? Why don't the "good," people, such as the ones that take less-pay than they could in other sectors to run major charitable organizations, start a "good" health insurance company that doesn't do any of the bad things that the other insurance companies do. If such an organization were to exist, it seems that everyone would switch to it, and even the most greedy of insurance companies would have to become like it in order to compete. There are obviously enough qualified and caring people out there to make such an organization happen without any government involvement. So why don't such organizations exist? I have a few ideas, but they don't explain the whole story. Maybe the fact that people don't usually shop around for health insurance because it's chosen by their employers prevents new "good" insurance companies from gaining the market share required to make the "bad" ones change? Maybe health insurance companies are already as good as they can be, despite a few heartless employees, and the primary problems in health care come from somewhere else? Maybe protectionist legal policies prevent altruistic organizations from freely forming? Any thoughts?
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Insurance companies are not the bad guys!
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