Imagine, if you will, that firefighting was still a for-profit business. Just like in the colonies, rival firefighting crews angled for people's business. Those who decided to sign up got a put a little sticker in my window. If you're house was burning down, you'd have better have one of those stickers in your window (or a good fake) otherwise you can bid farewell to your possessions.
Now fast-forward about 100 years. There are only a hand-ful of major firefighting companies in the country. In some states, there is only one. About a 1/3 of our country can't afford to have firefighters, so they go without or make fake decals. We as a society have decided houses shouldn't be burned just because the owner is poor, so we've passe the Emergency Fire Fighting and Active Labor Act saying that it is a social preference that Firefighters put out the fire first, and ask about citizenship and ability to pay once all is said an done.
We've done this (just like the real EMTALA) because we as a society believe that life comes before money. Firefighters start putting out homes, but rates go up again because they need to cover more people. More people means fewer enrollees, means higher rates, and the spiral continues.
At this point the government steps in and says "Hey, we need universal fire coverage." This is embraced by those on one side of the asile as their Holy Grail. The other side sees it as the end to all humanity and Nazis will once again ride on dinosaurs. The fire company executives will come before congress and shed alligator tears about how they wish they could keep rates down, but their shareholders DEMAND better profits than their $12 Bil last year.
Opposition leaders would tell people how the government would start rationing your fire-protection. They will tell you the proponents even slipped in a measure allowing the government to come into your gome once every 10 years and start a fire just to check how well the new fire coverage is doing. This is shown to be just a provision about smoke-alarm testing, but they run with it anyways, calling it a "Death-fire" and ultimately getting it yanked from the bill.
After 12 months of "bipartisan" negotiations in conferences and committees, with the opposition forming the a significant chunk bill and agreeing to its provisions, it will come out with ZERO (maybe even negative) opposition votes.
At this point, I'll end the analogy. Remember that just because an industry has always been in the private, for-profit sector, does not mean it must or should remain there (even though HC leaves the for-profit structure largely intact.)
Thanks for taking the time to read my first diary. I'm just a physics grad student who believes in caring for my fellow man.
Update: 3/21 4:31- Updated for clarity.