Actually I would too if it was done right and fell within the parameters of the Constitution.
And it CAN. if the government would just look at how Kaiser Permanente does it....(sigh) but it won't.
Kaiser is a PRIVATE company that provides excellent health care for premiums that just aren't that miserable. At least, not for people on medicare.
When private companies offer health insurance through their work, Kaiser gives everybody a very, very good (and cost effective) deal.
People can band together and get health care at 'employer discounts' by joining, or forming, groups for that specific purpose. The folks involved pay their premiums to the group, and the group pays Kaiser. Health insurance premiums end up at about 150 to 200 bucks a month per person, with $15 dr visit copays, and $20 pharmacy co-pays. The co-pays on x-rays, etc., run about $45, but compared to what I've heard some people end up paying (co-pay wise) AND having to come up with over $400 a month, that's pretty darned good.
The co-pays vary according to the program signed up for, but the point is, that's GOOD health insurance.
And it's private and the gov. doesn't tell the docs what they can do and who they can treat. Now I use this system a lot, you need to understand; I cost the system a LOT more than I pay into it. In the last six years, I figure that I've cost Kaiser about 750 grand, give or take. Shoot, the pills I have to take cost someone about 6 grand a month.
The docs don't seem to mind any.
The point is, the current laws say that Kaiser can only exist in about three states. It cannot cross state lines and serve anybody else....and frankly, the same rules apply to other systems like Kaiser.
So...if the government would simply allow these systems to compete across state lines, I predict that the health care 'problem' would be pretty much solved. The government might try figuring out how to pay the premiums for those who do NOT get health care through their employers, but competition would ensure that the premiums would stay reasonable and the health care would be available.
Oh, and if the gov. would give tax breaks to corporations and businesses which DO offer health care to their employees....wow. That would be far less expensive, and more effective, than having the government pay those premiums directly. A LOT less.
But...the Dems won't consider this, at all. Allowing private competition? Tax breaks? Horrors! Blasphemy! Anti-you name it. Probably racist, discriminatory and worthy of being banned from stamp collecting and cos-play sites.