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Originally Posted by flstf
I believe that the government should be able to step in and take control when the nature of an important service like healthcare does not result in a free market.
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Government regulations and control are part of the problem. Our healthcare system currently spends too much of its resources to comply with what some in the industry have called excessive regulation. Our judicial system is another part of the problem. Government has a role, but in this case less would be more.
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There seems to be little "free market pricing" of hospital charges and what little there is seems to be dictated by the insurance companies.
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Hospitals and insurance companies are regulated at the state level.
There are trade-offs, if you want highly restricted and regulated markets, like the hospital market, you in essence give monopolistic pricing power to those who meet the standards required.
I don't know the statistics but it would be interesting to see the successful birthrates of babies delivered by mid-wives 100 years ago, to that of hospitals today. If a person wanted to deliver a baby today using a mid-wive could she? If that option no longer exists, or is prohibative due to excessive regulation and the threat of lawsuits the cost goes up doesn't it?
I bet we could have a system that includes mid-wives that would provide high quality deliveries at a lower cost than our current system if we want to. These are the kinds of changes that will fix our healthcare system.