Health Care Insurance: U.S. vs. UK

This post on the difference between health care insurance in the United States and the UK is a good read.  Make sure to read the comments for some good insight about how people behave when they have access to a public good as opposed to when they have to purchase it themselves.  If anyone really is interested in understanding the problems of equitable allocation of a public good, read The Logic of Collective Action, by Mancur Olson.  As far as theoretical works on economics are concerned, it ranks as a real page turner.  I’ve read it four times.  Next time someone comes up with a big idea at your firm or company that supposedly will change behavior without any penalties attached for non-compliance, read the book and you’ll have a road map for how the idea will fail.