Comment by samus
2 years ago
Any market is shaped by policy. It can be argued that the US health insurance market is not really free in significant ways and set up such that the net result is the mess we see. A government-run institution performing better than the private market is not necessarily a sign that the institution is good, it might just mean that the market is set up in a deficient way.
I mean, last time I looked, social security in France gave back 81€ for every 100€ invested. Swisslife (it was either 2018 or 2019) gave back the same year 67€ for every 100€. What's funny is that only 11€ went to shareholders that year, that mean that even w/o capitalists, sometimes public services are more efficient than private companies.
As I said a few comments above, it's possible for things to be run efficiently; there's just less of an incentive to do so.
In terms of this exact comparison - is this like for like? I don't understand it well enough to know.