Right, my comment probably made it sound like I'm more in favor of a free market than I am. The point I was making that what we have now has so many deep flaws

Right, my comment probably made it sound like I'm more in favor of a free market than I am. The point I was making that what we have now has so many deep flaws that it's likely that a free market would still be better, and a lot of the price stupidity you describe can be traced back to regulation encumbrance. Also note that I'm assuming some level of baseline regulation on the order of other industries, just as single-payer would still have some market characteristics (like choosing doctors etc).