"We have this insane system now where you need health care, you’re the buyer, I’m the doctor, I’m the seller of health care — and somebody else pays the bill. Who the heck is gonna shop for price when somebody else is paying the bill? … I think Lasik (eye surgery) can act as a model for health care reform." – Dr. Robert Maloney

In the video at the bottom of this post, Reason Magazine also makes an interesting case about how, traditionally, the length of time the average worker has had to work to afford certain things in America, from food to jeans to electricity, has dramatically decreased based on competition-induced price drops. They contend, like many, that applying these free market principles to health care would have the same impact.

In contrast, I’ve also heard detractors claim the free market can’t truly work in health care because the seller is the agent for the buyer (meaning the doctor has incentives to peddle certain products to patients for his/her benefit, not necessarily theirs).

At any rate, here’s the video. Where do YOU fall in this debate?