Quote:I don't think health care providers selling over state lines would make a difference even with the free market concept...I believe they would all just keep their pricing nearly identical and keep it that way...If one went down, they would all go down, if one went up, they would all go up...Something like collusion...The free market isn't a cure all for everything...As long as the health care providers were in direct competition with similar sales and price range of each other, they would stay that way...

 

This is spot on.  ^^^

 

The fact that there are so few insurers creates what you call collusion.  I'm not saying collusion is the wrong word to use, but it is illegal.  The problem is that we have politicians that have been bought out by so many of these industries that collusion is ignored.  

 

When we have only a few companies in the market, and entrance into the market is darn near impossible, it doesn't matter how big or small the market is in terms of interstate commerce.  They all know what the other is doing.  Heck, most of them have shares in eachother, and the board of directors are usually within the same industry as well.

 

When you have oligopolies, you don't have a free market.  The only way to have a free market is to regulate it in order to protect it.  Yes, regulation is needed, otherwise the free market is destroyed by monopolies and oligopolies.  As we are seeing now.

---