Time for a National Healthcare Solution?

G.M. and Union Reach Tentative Agreement

The result of the UAW strike illustrates something very interesting about the ongoing health care debate. The US is the only major industrialized country that does not have some version of a national government-financed/run health care system. Very few people have noted, but the article does, that this puts American corporations at a disadvantage when competing with other international corporations. Health care costs are signifcant portion of US corporations' income statements, and also can be a huge liability on the balance sheet, resulting in a lower credit rating for the corporation.

Since Americans seem averse to government-run health care, I propose a uniquely American solution to this problem. Similar concerns were raised about a national bank back in the early 20th century, so the US created a decentralized quasi-public/private bank - the Federal Reserve. Can we do something similar for health care, and establish a privately-run, federally-regulated non-profit corporation with regional subsidiaries to manage a national health care system?