[pdonis]

> how can you have a functioning marketplace for a good when the demand is hard to forecast for an individual, almost completely inelastic and often extremely time sensitive.

Most health care is not like this. Most health care is fairly routine: periodic physical exams and checkups, or getting evaluated when you have cold or flu symptoms. These sorts of things are much better provided for in a free market.

It's true that, if you have an emergency, it's probably not something that could have been forecast, and you don't have much of a choice about what care you need. That is indeed the sort of situation that insurance is intended for. But what we call "health insurance" isn't limited to those things. It also covers everything else--all the stuff above that isn't unpredictable or time sensitive. The result is a mess.