The problems with private pensions:

• some people make bad decisions (unlucky, incompetence, circumstances such as divorce, illness, etc...) - or get screwed over by the employer/pension company (cf Enron, Maxwell et al) Should they end up destitute as a result of their decisions, or do we need a backup solution - which can only provided by the State? (if yes, why leave the State with only the burden of the bad cases, it might as well have access to the whole pool of people);

• some jobs have different degrees of unpleasantness and harship. some people have different health backgrounds. How do you prevent private companies from picking and choosing their clients? Who will take care of the tough cases? Again, if you regulate obligations on the insurance companies, why not do the job directly and more simply, without having to worry about enforcement which, as we know, is heavily subject to lobbying and lapses...

Ultimately, unless you ARE willing to let people die in the streets from the consequences of their inability to get a good deal, their being screwed over, or their being a "bad profile", you will end up with the State - taxpayers - carrying the burden and you will not be better off.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes