> Taxes go up, but they go up less than health insurance premiums would. Remove insurance companies as an industry.
From the international perspective, I get the impression that Americans are against this because then you are "paying for other people" (as though insurance doesn't count, but through a private company is somehow 'better').
With actual insurance, you aren't paying for other people. Your premiums are based on the expected value of your future claims.
The financial incentive helps preserve that property: If a company can identify the cheaper customers, then they can offer lower premiums than the companies that can't. The customers left behind are more expensive, forcing those premiums to rise in order to remain solvent.
