The issue with health care is it is a superior good. This means if someones incomes increases by 10%, people spend 12-13% more on health care. Canada has more

The issue with health care is it is a superior good. This means if someones incomes increases by 10%, people spend 12-13% more on health care. Canada has more regulated health care than the US, and yet the health care has better outcomes and is delivered at a lower price. It isn't perfect, but having seen both systems, the Canadian one is overall better. One of the reasons, although not the only one, for higher education prices is less subsidies for education at the state level. I agree that city zoning, and the lack of quick public transit, explains much of the increased price of housing. But some of this increase in cost is due to increased population, and the amount of land in and close to cities being fixed. Higher density would help, but higher density housing to also more expensive to create than lower density housing. A lack of regulation also leads to outcomes like houses in Houston being build on flood plains. There is a role for government and regulation, and a role for free enterprise, but to understand the balance one need to look a other countries it see if they have a better balance and what works well.