Originally Posted by mynameisjim

If the government run option sucks and is a failure as the Republicans are saying with long waits and terrible care, then nobody will use it and will not expand. If it works well and people give it high marks, then it will grow and more people will enter into it.

You can have free market mechanics in a government aided system. Just like there is a postal service. People use it for their day to day mail but for actual shipping, people prefer to use a private firm, even though the post office offers the same service.