Logic Gone Wild: Socialized Medicine

Against socialized medicine?

Let's put an end to health insurance which pools risk among many individuals.  Such socialized vehicles of risk motivate people to get injured and sick so that they take more from those who pay in.  Health insurance is socialized medicine.  Health insurance also over encourages the use of medical services beyond what is efficient for the market since people do not bear the true cost of what they directly consume.  Therefore, people will over consume because they don't have to pay for the full cost directly.  This increased demand artificially raises prices.  Why can't we have a true free market system where people by medical services like they buy hamburgers or apples or furniture?

Against government sponsored socialized medicine?

Let's put an end to government tax incentives for health insurance.  These tax incentives distort the market preferences of consumers.  They encourage more consumption of health insurance than is efficient for the market and also increase the price of health insurances under the basic logic of supply and demand economics.

A Political (aka dumb and misleading) Argument you might hear:  Government created tax incentives to purchase health insurance is exactly why so many Americans are making unhealthy diet and lifestyle choices.  Because they have health insurances, they aren't as motivated to stay healthy.

Let's help decrease the cost of medical care by getting rid of health insurance and government sponsored tax incentives for medical care!

Now whose with me?

Regardless of this post's satirical content, perhaps the most effective method to bringing down the cost of health care is to not have health insurance.  If people have to pay the full cost of their medical care, they will not consume as much, lessening demand and therefore, reducing prices.  This may not be a very effective method since suppliers of medical care might just contract supply and put upward pressure on prices.  Also, this might be socially unproductive as society probably wants its populace to go to the doctor regularly and stay healthy even if it is not the "most market efficient".