[donaldc]

Your fears are ones that one could have about any market. But in general, free markets seem to work better than any of the alternatives across a wide range of markets, and I really doubt that health care would prove an exception to this.

It won't be perfect, of course, but a perfect system doesn't exist. I'm absolutely appalled that I'm paying (on average, as an American) over $1.5 million over my life for the present system, and can't imagine this would remain the case if pricing and outcome transparency were drastically increased. I think that quality and service would improve, while cost would decrease.