Michael B.

I'm skeptical this would ever be better than the current system unless the FDA is at least reined in. One of the reasons open source software is able to be successful is that there isn't government intervention significantly driving up costs driving almost everyone but handful of firms out of the market. If the FDA can be dealt with first, I think this stands a chance of doing some really wonderful things.

I want to clarify that in my previous comment, I wasn't blaming doctors or that they should have their pay cut. I think that their pay should be determined by the free and open market. The "breaking" of the price mechanism was actually caused by the combination of existence of Medicare, Medicaid, utility-like insurance provided by employers, and patients being treated regardless of their inability to pay. While I'm not suggesting that these things should all be taken away, I do think that some of the government-induced market failure which raises prices by itself could easily be corrected without any additional cost to taxpayers. The reason that the price mechanism is so important is because it determines how both consumers will spend their money and what they will purchase. Producers also use it in determining what goods and services to provide and how to invest money. Right now, a massive percentage of money spent by the the healthcare industry is being misallocated because of the economic distortion. One obvious example are drugs like viagra. In a free market, the less investment dollars would have gone toward drugs like viagra and more would have been instead invested things that would save lives, cut costs, improving quality of life in a more meaningful way, etc. Also, medical and pharmaceutical industries have had far less pressure to innovate in the area of cost cutting which would have make health care much more affordable. In a free market, people wouldn't need health insurance to afford healthcare. The need for insurance itself is caused by all of the distortion. Focusing on "fixing" insurance is like putting a band-aid on someone with internal bleeding.