The reality of health care

Liberals love to complain about the high price of private health care, while demanding that the government provide it for the people. Well, when are people going to realize that programs such as Medicare and Medicaid eliminate the incentive for competitive pricing?

50% of Americans receive some sort of government health care. So, why would patients, doctors or hospitals practice restraint in medical billing? If you're not paying out of your own pocket, why care how high your bills are? And if the bill will be paid by Big Daddy Government, why should doctors or hospitals care how much they charge?

If the free market were allowed to work, health care would become affordable, just like all other private products and services. Of course there would be different levels; more money would buy higher quality insurance. But government run health care isn't exactly top notch anyway. Why would the better doctors choose to work for the government when they can make more money running a private practice? And of course, there would still be those who choose to spend their money on other things rather than health care, but in general the price would come down. Why should it be different than anything else?