What Americans call 'the free market' is a system where there are few restrictions on what a person can buy or sell. It extends to their political system, where politicans sell policies in return for campaign contributions.

Most of these sectors are dominated by public spending (see my comment above).

Because prices aren't arbitrary numbers slapped on to products and services that can be managed by diktat. It's like trying to control the temperature by limiting how high thermostats can go.

> In Denmark when the doctor sends you to the drug store with a prescription for e.g. pain medication, the drug store is required by law to tell you about cheaper alternatives (with the same active ingredient) even if they do not stock the cheap alternative.

All 50 US states have generic substitution laws, and 89% of all prescriptions are of generics.

In fact, the US has a higher rate of generic drug use and lower generic drug prices than Europe.

Might as well ask why there isn’t peace on earth given that’s clearly seen as the way things should be. Not always easy to achieve.

But he gave concrete examples other countries have done to achieve the very things he mentioned. Why would you dismiss those obviously working solutions by hand-waving about world peace?

Different countries, different politics and constraints, different challenges.

Operating a prison seems pretty similar. Costs are food, housing and security.

It's not like our prison costs more because our cultural values require us to treat the prisoners substantially better than countries Canada.

Your first point is sort of debatable. The U.S. is diverse and there's a wide variety of viewpoints. It's hard to fight against political inertia at the Federal level. Policies in motion tend to stay in motion.

There is demand for reform but there's almost an equal demand for status quo.

Cutting financial fees is one thing. Healthcare is a capital AND labor intensive industry. Cutting fees carelessly could cause massive layoffs, disrupted services and a lot of trickle down effects. The system has evolved to this point and while it's certainly due for disruption, it's not as simple as capping prices.

There's no equal demand for status quo in the US. There is a political system that lets voices be amplified enough for those with vested interests to pretend they have an equal demand.

big difference

The "hang 'em high" crowd is not a tiny minority. They're the supermajority voice on the conservative side of the aisle and you'll even see them represented elsewhere in this comments section.

> So why isn't it a free market in the USA when free markets is clearly seen as the way things should be?

Because of lobbying

> Why does the US government not respond by putting a cap on prices for hospital treatments?

Because that's _socialism_, and it means the Communists have won

>So why isn't it a free market in the USA when free markets is clearly seen as the way things should be?

I don't think anyone is really saying that except for the most extreme neoliberals.

To give a more nuanced prospective, I'm an American that has lived in Denmark for 3 years.

Definitely, the American system is a dumpster fire.

Denmark's isn't terrific, either, though. I remember having to call in a favor of my girlfriend's uncle (a doctor) to get a simple doctor appointment that wasn't 4 months out.

Certainly the government does have the people more in mind when making laws - that's not the case in the US. Our government cannot be trusted to have our interests at heart, unfortunately. Pushing for more regulation usually means helping the businesses and not the citizens.

Private health care is cheap and great throughout Europe. You can get an appointment quickly, have doctors that spend time with you, and spend a lot less than you would in the US. The private doctors here in Europe also tend to be better at their job - they've self selected.

The best medical care I've experienced, though, was in south east asia. Most of those countries have a pretty free market. You can even see ads in Bangkok for the price of a baby delivery - front and center on billboards even! Truly a capitalistic health care system.

I've described my own experience with SEA care here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15904413

The point is that health care is broken around the world but certain places need different solutions to make it less broken.

America already spends enough public money to afford public health care for everyone but we don't end up with any quality of care for that money.

America is unable to follow Europe on this one even though most european systems would be better.

I want to see how the SEA model works when your condition requires an expensive and complex treatment (chemo/radiation for cancer, a transplant etc.). Here in Poland, private hospitals generally focus on the easier and more profitable diseases and treatments, and the serious stuff is pretty much only treated by the the (tax funded) public system.

The Polish system makes sense. Governments need to step in to fill the gaps that the more open market cannot or will not serve.