Totally agree with this article. All excellent points. I think these sorts of improvements to a free market medical system need to be fully explored before we t

Totally agree with this article. All excellent points. I think these sorts of improvements to a free market medical system need to be fully explored before we turn to socialized medicine. I'm not opposed to socialized medicine if it's necessary, but I think all else equal, market-based systems are better. If we truly can't make a market based system work, then i'm all for it. But I think there are a lot of ways to improve competition and drive down costs without making that leap. Just to pile on a few other things: - In order to open a new hospital in the US, you need to demonstrate 'need' for it. Who certifies that there is a need? A panel of the other hospitals in the area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_need https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_need - A large percentage of the things people go to the doctor for right now could be handled by a nurse, or someone substantially less qualified. You don't need to see an MD to get diagnosed with a cold. Making it easier for people with lower tiers of qualifications to provide basic types of care, and even write prescriptions for simple issues would dramatically increase access and reduce costs. There has been some movement in this direction, but not nearly enough. - Breaking the doctor-pharma company relationship. This is a tricky one, and i'm not sure how to go about doing it in a way that doesn't overly trample either entity's rights. However, there is an enormous problem in the US of drugs being prescribed to patients without regard for cost. Often there are many nearly equivalent pharmaceuticals to address a given problem, but doctors will prescribe the latest and greatest one, because they are incentivized to do so by the pharmaceutical companies. Since that drug is still under patent, it costs substantially more than many 'nearly as good' alternatives. Patients don't have the information or education to know this usually, and so they just follow their doctor's recommendation.