Free Market solutions to health care in the US

This thread isnt for debating the merits of a government run or Free Market based health system . Instead I want to give members the chance to do something that the Republicans have failed to do in the last eight years and that is to come up with Free Market based solutions to the problem of the increasing costs of health care in the US. Other then taking the sensible measure of denying illegal aliens access to government run health care programs I haven't read of any Free Market based solutions . This is despite the fact the large US population gives more scope for Free Market based solutions because more competitors can survive in the market place .

Somewhat strangely in the past I have defended the Free Market system comparing it to the Trans Tasman airfare war and the resulting lower airfares . Anyway I want to read peoples ideas and plans on this matter rather then just the endless whining about having to pay extra taxes for more government involvement and the usual triads against government run health care that are sometimes of dubious factual value .

"Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution. The only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is to keep its hands off."

-Ayn Rand

I would say the first step to a free market medical system is to actually make the market free, if you will. Right now it seems like too many politicians have stock in the drug industry, and the drug industry owns too many politicians.. why would they want to fix the system when they all make so much money off of it?

My idea to counter this? I'm not sure, but I think a good start would be to do away with the FDA and create a new organization that wouldn't approve dangerous substances for human consumption to make a few bucks.

The new organization would look into the benefits of holistic health and herbal medicines, which actually lead to wellness instead of the current system of surgical treatments and expensive synthesized drugs that cause a myriad of side effects, keeping the patient mired in their "treatment" for long periods of time as their resources are drained.

I think people would rather pay up front and achieve wellness, be cured, than be able to go to the hospital for free over and over again and never really recover.

If you don't understand what I mean by "treatment" versus achieving wellness.. I suggest reading Kevin Trudeau. He's a little dramatic, but he's consolidated the argument well.

LovelyDoom thanks for the reply . I find it very telling that so far the amount of criticisms directed at government run health care is no were near in proportion to the number of Free Market based solutions on offer . To me that suggests that the oppsition to the US government taking a greater role in health care is more idealogical related then any argument based on practical reasoning .

The free market works if there is the ability to affix a price on a good for exchange. While it may be possible to put a value on your own life, nobody would be able to place a value on their child's life. Therefore any cost would be born by the market, no matter the consequence if the alternative was no healthcare (death).

Healthcare is a special case of "the market", and this is why market forces cannot work in healthcare.