If we are moving toward a free-er market in insurance one useful role for the government would be to >facilitate< the exchange of information and lubricate the machinery so that people have the info they need to compare products and selecting the right ones is easy.
Sellers of all types prefer a "sticky," opaque marketplace, it helps to keep their products from being easily compared to others, and keeps their margins higher.
For example: If we are going back to medical underwriting for the purposes of setting prices (it's not clear to me if are or not) it would be best for the consumer and the country if medical histories and exams for insurance were handled by a seperate entity from the insurance companies. It's a giant PITA to get 5 exams and fill out 5 histories in order to get prices from 5 companies. If there was a different entity that did the exams and gave either a single risk score or even a consolidated report to the insurers, it would open up competition a lot. The government can take steps to facilitate this, the insurance companies won't do it because it is not in their interest to make shopping around easy.
Likewise, the government should have a role in making it easy for people to compare the quality of the healthcare provided by various systems/docs/etc. No, I don't think there should be a government web page (because it would be unusable), but te government can mandate that the information be provided to third parties (and the govt should spot-check the validity of it--big penalties for cheating). Waiting times, infections, complications from common procedures, consumer satisfaction with the care etc.
Sellers of all types prefer a "sticky," opaque marketplace, it helps to keep their products from being easily compared to others, and keeps their margins higher.
For example: If we are going back to medical underwriting for the purposes of setting prices (it's not clear to me if are or not) it would be best for the consumer and the country if medical histories and exams for insurance were handled by a seperate entity from the insurance companies. It's a giant PITA to get 5 exams and fill out 5 histories in order to get prices from 5 companies. If there was a different entity that did the exams and gave either a single risk score or even a consolidated report to the insurers, it would open up competition a lot. The government can take steps to facilitate this, the insurance companies won't do it because it is not in their interest to make shopping around easy.
Likewise, the government should have a role in making it easy for people to compare the quality of the healthcare provided by various systems/docs/etc. No, I don't think there should be a government web page (because it would be unusable), but te government can mandate that the information be provided to third parties (and the govt should spot-check the validity of it--big penalties for cheating). Waiting times, infections, complications from common procedures, consumer satisfaction with the care etc.