[Nataku X]

Yep... doctors are forced by default to use the most expensive procedures... because they are liable if they don't and a complication happens. Not to mention how many hurdles drugs have to be put through to be approved--meanwhile the government fasttracks a bunch of drugs like RU-486 for political reasons.

Personally I think it's the idea of insurance at all that caused this whole mess. If everyone had car insurance that paid for oil changes, gas fill-ups, car washes, etc., guess what happens to the price of gas?

I'd go the extreme and mandate that every insurance carry a minimum deductible of $3000 per adult, $500 per child over 3 years. You can bet that people won't be running to the doctor for colds or sore throats anymore.

[Nataku X]

Oops... I should have said GOVERNMENT insurance like Medicare/Medicaid. Private insurance can set whatever deductible they want.

In any case, catastrophic insurance combined with tort reform should do the trick of lowering prices. Even though that should be left to the states ideally, unfortunately, we'll probably have to resort to a Constitutional amendment to get some real tort reform in place--with the courts being packed with judges ready to overturn any tort reform bill passed.