>Fixing the third party payer problem with regulation and bureaucracy is like fixing diarrhea by tinkering with the plumbing under the toilet.
>A complete misunderstanding of the problem.

The source of the problem is that the initial idea (which I'm not quite sure was sound to begin with) that people should pool their resources and pay their health services from that common pool was taken by the usual flies who feast on any pile, as long as they can get themselves in the position to manage the pile.

Now why would it be better with this whole rich layer of middlemen middlepersons intermediareis is beyond me. And the latest crop of laws didn't do anything to make sure the quality of health care has moved one iota - from what I know it seems it just made sure the intermediaries get more customers while suffering a mild slap on the wrist.

What I was hoping for, those years ago when the whole O'care circus started, was that the inefficient bureaucracy would create some equally inefficient but free system of clinics (new or contracted) which would be pretty much free or at fixed prices (from govt's price list), which would introduce some competition in this lopsided market. Them being gov't, they wouldn't do much to upset the balance of the market, but would probably do some good and the politicians would score points with the people. But I think everybody feared that this would be a bad precedent and would show what usurious rates the current (lack of) system charges and the whole house of cards would collapse. So it was removed from even the earliest drafts (but still, where did I get that from - must have been mentioned somewhere early on).