Uh, yeah - I'd think that's obvious.

Before Medicare, doctor visits and care were priced according to what people could pay. I've heard my folks say that my birth, which was a difficult one and kept my mom in the hospital for over a week, cost $75. total.

I guess medical insurance was available back then, but it really wasn't needed because rates were limited by what people could pay. If doctors and hospitals had increased their charges to outrageous levels it wouldn't have done them any good. People would have either gone without care or the doctors would have had a bunch of uncollectable bills.

Then the government got into it with Medicare and medical charges went up - 'way up. That made health insurance necessary, and with access to the deep pockets of the government and insurance companies the medical industry has been increasing charges all out of proportion to inflation for over 40 years.

It's nature of capitalism that the price of goods and services will always be as much as the market will bear. That's a good thing and it's self-regulating - if a private business charges too much, someone else will always find a way to be more efficient and charge less for the same product.

Where that gets screwed up is when government comes in - by forcibly taking money away from taxpayers and giving it to a private industry. That's what Medicare is, and like everything government touches it has created inefficiency, overcharging, and abuse.