I'm assuming you're European and just want to make an "America bad" post because this is comically ignorant. There wouldn't be mountains of federal code to adhere to if that was the case.

This is a trope among populists: pass legislation around <thing>, observe consequences of doing so, blame the "free market", repeat.

What other countries could teach the U.S. about bringing down drug prices

A look at how European governments negotiate with pharma companies helps explain why Americans pay more for prescription drugs.

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/11/what-other-countri...

Sure, but that article literally contradicts your original point about Americans wanting a "free market" as it lists the complicated nature of existing laws, Medicare, PBMs etc. and the incentives those create.

You could just say "Americans need to vote better and cleanup their laws around this" and yes, that would be ideal, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It's part of why some want the government to not involve themselves at all: no matter how good the politicians you elect, others can come into office and fuck it all up while everyone is forced to deal with it because they have the monopoly on violence. Not to mention the glacial pace at which our legislative bodies move.

It is certainly a market, but I wouldn’t call it a free market.

Healthcare, like real estate, is a dysfunctional marketplace lacking real competition

Can you provide evidence for the claim? Polling from pew and Gallup suggest this isn't the case.

US voters have no principles. Even republicans started artistically screaming about nationalizing companies when they didn’t want to play ball with the president.

I think surveys show voters prefer the opposite, but certain powers are able to overcome that.

> US voters prefer the free market as opposed to government regulation and nationalized healthcare.

Because US voters are dumb. (Just for context, I'm a US citizen).

Free markets don't work when there is inelastic demand for a good or service, and an awful lot of health care (unless you consider 'well, guess I'll just die then' as a reasonable outcome) is inelastic demand.