Hey I love the free market too and I once thought as you did, until I looked at the data. Back in 2006 I pulled the latest WHO data and looked at % of medical

Hey I love the free market too and I once thought as you did, until I looked at the data. Back in 2006 I pulled the latest WHO data and looked at % of medical industry privatized vs overall health of the populace (an function of factors such as infant mortality and lives lost to communicable diseases) in OECD countries. As best I could tell there was a negative correlation between privatization and quality of care. As I recall the USA was the worst (by far), Australia's hybrid system put them near the middle, and Japan was on top. Sure the sample data is small and the USA is very very far from a pure market at this point, but it was enough of a wake-up call for me that I stopped blindly believing in economic models. After all it is only a model, not reality. Health care may in fact be a 'natural monopoly' such as water or power, or it may be better as a government controlled industry such as education or defence. Only a few radicals think the government should not run or regulate any industry. Some things to consider: > Is is better that people always visit the doctor when they have a minor concern? (like 'if they sneeze . . .') because if people are paying out of pocket even at $100 many will not go. > Many rural areas have only one hospital. Their emergency room is a monopoly. In a perfect market they could charge whatever they wanted and people would still go. > Can the average person 'make sure a doctor is good?' Do they know how to make such a judgement? > If doctors needed to compete, would it necessary be a sill-based competition? Is there a correlation between customer satisfaction and early detection for things like annual physicals? > Do we want to have a society where you level of income determines your quality of care (and probably life expectancy) I agree that the current US system is close to the worst thing possible, virtually no competition due to insurance being tied to employers, and also virtually no safety net. I was uninsured for two and a half years. When I went to the hospital and asked how much things cost no one knew. Twice I was misinformed by more than a hundred dollars. So yeah I think the model you propose may well be better than what we currently have, but I sincerely doubt it is the best possible.