I don't have any problem with encouraging a market in that kind of universal coverage. The advantage of that over the current system is that a private entity, assuming there was competition, if there's no competition, it doesn't help. But if there's competition, you at least have someone with an incentive to reduce innovation that is not productive and encourage innovation that is productive. I just think that's a Kafka-esque way to get from here.
Economist Ed Dolan of the Niskanen Center talks about employer-based health insurance with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Dolan discusses how unusual it is relative to other countries that so many Americans get their health insurance through their employer and the implications of that phenomenon for the structure of the health insurance market. Dolan explores the drawbacks of this structure and makes the case for what he calls Universal Catastrophic Coverage.