His basic point is an important one that bears repeating: America does not currently have a free-market medical system. In particular, he notes:
In reality, per-capita state-sponsored health expenditures in the United States are the third-highest in the world, only below Norway and Luxembourg. And this is before our new health law kicks in...Avik Roy does praise statist elements in some other countries' health systems, such as Switzerland and Singapore -- which I disagree with. But those are topics for a separate day.
The thing to remember in America is that we have single-payer health care for the elderly and for the poor: the two costliest groups. In addition, the relatively healthy middle class has heavily-subsidized private health insurance, in which few individuals have the freedom to choose the insurance plan they receive. Neither of these facts commend the American health-care system to devotees of the free market.
(Via Dr. Matthew Bowdish.)
