Health care providers are able to hide prices and quality of outcomes, making it difficult or impossible to price shop for care, which is already difficult when you are ill and needing care now, not later. Thus, free market pricing is not able to work and prices are set higher than they would be otherwise.

The AMA and universities control the number of doctors which can be trained and licensed in the U.S., so demand is outstripping supply. We are importing doctors and shifting duties from doctors to less skilled personnel, but it is not enough to cover the demand from baby boomers needing more high quality care. As demand outstrips supply, prices go up.

Finally, Americans love our habits. Drinking, smoking, drugs, overeating, lack of exercise, and extramarital sex contribute greatly to 9 of the 10 most costly areas of medical expense, over $1 Trillion, and we want others to pay for it. Until we have to pay for our own choices, we’ll continue our habits.

We need to fix all three.