[Alas Babylon!]

As long as government says they will pay X number of dollars for Y procedure or medicine or care of some kind, then all hospitals, doctors and pharmacies will charge X for it.

So, say a standard office visit (Y) is $75 (X). Medicare, Medicaid will pay up to $75 for an office visit, so now each and every doctor charges that much for an office visit. When/if government raises that price, then so will the doctors.

And I don’t blame them. They’d be fools not to.

But the underlying fact is, doctors, hospitals and pharmacies do not set medical care prices...

The government does.

Until someone figures a way out of this, and lets a free market determine price, we’re stuck with high medical costs dictated by government.

So Carson’s vouchers or HSA, or Medicaid/Medicare, all equal high government induced costs.

[DoodleDawg]

So, say a standard office visit (Y) is $75 (X). Medicare, Medicaid will pay up to $75 for an office visit, so now each and every doctor charges that much for an office visit. When/if government raises that price, then so will the doctors.

One problem with your scenario is that if the standard office visit costs $75, insurance companies will negotiate a cost of $50 and Medicare will mandate a payment of $35. So the free market is already setting the price for two of them: the insurance companies, because doctors and insurance companies are free to negotiate a price agreeable to both, and for everyone else, since people are free to pick a doctor that charges the price that they are willing to pay.

[Sooth2222]

As long as the benefits of health care are individualized but the costs are socialized, there will not be an upper boundary on health care spending! (Obamacare made this even worse.)

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Until someone figures a way out of this, and lets a free market determine price, we’re stuck with high medical costs dictated by government. So Carson’s vouchers or HSA, or Medicaid/Medicare, all equal high government in

WRONG!

This is a free market reform, using private insurance, paying market rates to the providers, all chosen by the insured (competition). In his proposal, the government pays premiums....not claims.