[terio]

The problem with that is that buying health care is far more complex than many other purchases. Now doctors simply will not provide an estimate for their services, and when you visit the doctor you don't know what kind of procedure they will have to perform on you at the visit.

In my view the system is so screwed up that will end up socialized pretty soon.

[crazy1van]

I think if people have to start paying their money, they will not tolerate that kind of behavior from doctors. Think about when you take your car to the auto mechanic. Generally you pay some money for diagnosis. Then if the mechanic recommends a fix that is cheap, you let him just go ahead. But if the fix is very expensive, you might call around several places to make sure the price is reasonable. Of course, you'd never call around if the price was a $20 co-pay no matter which mechanic you went to.

Certainly, not the perfect analogy, but I think it points to the ridiculous nature of our current system and how such a ridiculous system will of course lead to costly behavior.

This analogy is for more predictable things like shots, checkups, bad colds, etc. For catastrophic illness and trauma, that's why you have insurance.