[Alberta's Child]

Very few people outside of FreeRepublic have any interest in "free markets" in health care. Here's how a free market in health care would work:

If you have a chronic medical condition that costs $15,000 per year to treat, you pay $15,000 out of your own pocket to deal with it.

Here's how a free market in health care would never work:

If you have a chronic medical condition that costs $15,000 per year to treat, you get the government to find two healthy people with no medical expenses and force all three of you to pay $5,000 each for "insurance."

Most Americans -- and probably a disproportionate number of older voters who supported Donald Trump -- would tell you that the latter is exactly what they want.

[so_real]

I disagree with your conception of "free market", AlbChi. My analogy for "free market" would include national competition in an open market, tort reform to reduce frivolous lawsuits, constricting the FDA charter to encourage new processes and procedure, and monopoly busting to make medication production more cost-affordable. In that analogy, your medical condition that once cost $15,000 per year to treat, now only costs $5,000 to treat. And if you desire to purchase insurance to share the load with healthy people, it will cost even less. Free market works.

[spintreebob]

Free Market means voluntary payment of other’s health bills.
Your example left out the overhead taken by government, insurance companies, all the middle men (including me).

Right now we need a massive education program for the public (maybe in targeted districts) for

Provider Direct Pay Plans

Medishare Plans

Charitable Organizations.

Pour massive amounts of money into the above 3 non-insurance approaches. Price and Verma change all the regulations to be pro-patient rather than pro-insurance company/pro-CMS.

Now the money and mandatory debates become totally different.

Of course, Tort Reform is still a major issue Congress and State Legislatures should address. We control a lot of state legislatures where the RINOs are taking Democrat lawyer money to avoid Tort Reform.

And politically, we need to narrow focus our targets to those we can win... This must include targeting some Democrats in swing districts as well as targeting a few RINOs.

[hinckley buzzard]

Just so. You could also add, that the "free market" approach to health care will no longer work because the supply is fixed, the demand is optional only at the margins, so costs are inelastic; healthcare in the main does not respond to the usual rules of supply and demand. A treatment that costs 15,000 a year will not come down to 5000 just because people want it to, or because they stop buying it. With their life at stake, they will buy it somehow.