flstf

I think so. I am not convinced that the free market will work with health care but it would be preferable to government control. Maybe something like basic care (doctor and dentist) could be free market and catastropic care (hospitals,etc..) could be insured by the government.

Regardless of the quality of care, the very poor seem to be protected from financial ruin since they have nothing to sue for to pay the bills, and of course the upper middle class and wealthy are usually covered by good insurance (mostly subsidized by employers). It is the working poor and middle class who have the most to loose from large hospital bills. I think something like half of the bankruptcies are caused by large medical bills.

I don't think basic health care and drug costs can become more competitive as long as people have co-pays and do not care what the final cost is. There must be some incentive for people to shop around like they do for most other consumer goods.

I guess the insurance companies are trying to control costs by limiting what they will pay for certain procedures and denying claims when possible but other than that I don't see much downward pressure of health care costs.