Another view of Krugman's federal health insurance idea:  "Before 1950 flood insurance was part of the standard homeowners' insurance policy. During the 1950s increasingly high correlation of losses by holders of flood policies of the same company caused many insurance companies to begin excluding flood coverage from standard insurance policies, selling flood insurance separately. Over time, insurance premiums collected were insufficient in covering payouts after major flooding events. In the 1960s flood insurance became completely unprofitable and private companies no longer offered flood insurance policies."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flood_Insurance_Program

Krugman should start by putting cost estimates with all of his grand fixing ideas, but why do that when the "government" is the one footing the bill?  Sometimes I wonder if Krugman was really ever an economist?