Capitalism is one of the faces of America's deity. Capitalism stands for FREEDOM in the Economic arena. "Free-Enterprise Capitalism" is a redundancy, isn't it?
Well, sometimes Capitalism is NOT free-enterprise! Sometimes it is just legal theft! Health Insurance is one of those instances.
Without broad-based Health Insurance, doctors would not charge what they charge under Health Insurance. Because there are not enough people who could afford to pay what they demand from Health Insurance. Without patients who could pay their outrageous rates, doctors would have no income. They would have to lower their fees.
Without broad-based Health Insurance, drug companies would not charge what they charge under Health Insurance. Because most people could not afford to buy the drugs. If they didn't lower their prices, they wouldn't have paying customers.
I am NOT suggesting that good health is or is not WORTH 10% of a person's gross income, or 20% or 50% for that matter. But whatever it is WORTH, most people COULD NOT AFFORD to pay doctors' fees and drug companies' prices that are sustainable ONLY because health insurance pays them.
As an example, I have glaucoma. My glaucoma specialist sees me 4 - 6 times a year, for about 10 minutes. He bills me (whooops, he bills my health-insurance carrier) $400 to $1000 per visit. If I had to pay his fees out of my own pocket, I would see someone else who charged WAY less and I would take my chances by seeing him or her 2 - 3 times per year. And if his "competitors" didn't charge MUCH less than he did, I'd use a clinic or I'd be forced to become my own doctor. Very few glaucoma patients could (or would choose to) afford to pay $1600 - $6000 per year to that one specialist alone.
For my glaucoma, I take nightly eye drops called Allergan's Lumigan. Its retail cost is $75 for a 5 ml bottle that lasts one month. So the retail cost of this one Rx is $900 per year. Lumigan's active ingredient is something called bimatoprost opthalmic solution 0.03%. Doing the math, the retail cost for an ounce of this stuff is $1,000,000. It's a bit more expensive than Gold. Do you think that pays off the R&D that went into making this stuff? If 5% of Americans have glaucoma (15,000,000 Americans), Lumigan and its like is a $13.5 billion industry, for less than 100 gallons of the active ingredient!
Another example, I take six prescribed medications. Their so-called retail prices are, collectively, over $500 per month. As I live on a "fixed-income" I can NOT AFFORD them, I would have to choose which ones to take and which to forego.
Under our system of free-enterprise capitalism, health insurance companies cannot dictate to doctors or drug manufacturers what to charge. Nor can the government, or even consumers, dictate their charges either. In addition, consumers cannot dictate what health insurers charge, as they would not do business if they had to take a loss. So what happens when doctors and drug companies charge more and more because of health insurance coverage? Insurance rates increase; some large healthy employers absorb the cost, but smaller or less healthy employers pass on the increases; and some employers offer new policies that just cover less. In the meantime, small-business owners and individuals are faced with ever-increasing health-care costs that rise faster than any other component in the Cost of Living. And in the meantime, the number of people totally unable to afford either health-insurance or doctors' visits or medication rises, rises, rises.
The industry - health insurance, doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers - maintains its own fiscal health by screaming "Socialism" any time anyone suggests that a solution is possible. Whereas, the truth is that the health-care industry is not free-enterprise capitalism at all; if it were, it would have to sell its services to consumers and Supply and Demand would work its magic. Selling to insurance companies, there is no resistance to rising prices, they are just passed on, and those who can afford the ever-increasing prices pay them and the rest of us lose access, some or all, to health-care.
Insurance is supposed to minimize the risk of catastrophe or ill-fortune; in the case of health insurance, it allows health-care providers to charge higher and higher prices to fewer and fewer people, leaving more and more folks without health-care, and profit from it.
No matter what you call it, it is wrong.
One last note: Labor Unions. Doctors rates are buoyed by one of the two strongest labor unions in the country (although few people categorize them as labor unions). But the AMA (American Medical Association) and the ABA (American Bar Association) are just that: Labor Unions. The only difference between them and Teamsters is that Teamsters support wages of $25 / hour while the AMA and the ABA support wages of $500 / hour. Is the difference in the extra education? Teachers are required to be as educated as lawyers and doctors, and they have union representation too; but the Teachers Union supports wages no more than the Teamsters. Ah, Justice!