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> On Nov 17, 2007, at 4:13 AM, peter green wrote:
>
>
>> Are there any countries out there, that have a successful free  
>> market-based
>> health care system?
>>
>>
> one big problem is that a lot of healthcare transactions are made
> essentially under duress, when you are unconcious or barely  
> concious in
> the back of an ambulance it is not exactly very feasible to choose  
> which
> hospital you end up in.

There was and is no longer ; the United States of America.
 From the 1850s to the 1950s health care shifted from free market
to a socialized, government controlled system.  From the 50s onward,
most Americans could not imagine anything other than socialized
medicine for the U.S.

One reason silly decisions are made for you while you are
semi-conscious is because the provider knows they can get
away with it.  It would be quite easy for receiving hospitals to
transfer patients and bill the medical center the patient was going
to for services rendered.  A patient could contract in advance for
emergency services.  A hospital that overcharged for emergency
care would be criticized by other medical facilities.

Another way to reduce costs and improve care would be to
eliminate the doctor monopoly.  It is completely unjustified,
especially with respect to being a gateway for drugs.

Cedric
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