Oh, you didn't - and I hope my flippant comment didn't mislead anyone into thinking you did. There's already so many factors distorting the health care market

Oh, you didn't - and I hope my flippant comment didn't mislead anyone into thinking you did. There's already so many factors distorting the health care market that it is imho hardly an argument against single payer that doctors would have to negotiate compensation against a powerful customer. (It would, after all, at the same time remove a number of other distortions from the mix - while unlikely to leave doctors in the gutter in the process.) External circumstances change in a lot of professions all the time; for instance, I do not expect the government to help me out (working in the petroleum industry) now that oil prices are more than halved from their peak - that's life. Better adjust to it.