That's a good observation and it is hard to tell because of the long history of government interference in the healthcare marketplace. If it would be suddenly removed there would be massive negative effects on suppliers of healthcare services. That is why we need a conservative in office to implement reform in steps with the overall direction toward free market initiatives. People would probably find that as a percent of GDP healthcare would probably drop, but this is theoretical as there is almost no large scale model to judge it by.
Unfortunately people who talk more like poliscistudent, we need limits on... and we need to nationalize... and we need more controls on the economy... are becoming more and more prevalent. Teaching basic economics is something everyone should be taught. At least they'd understand supply and demand so you wouldn't have to explain why people earn what they earn and why government interference in the economy is almost never a good thing.
supposed to be to post 185, not my own.