Unlike Szasz (and Alex), I don't see this as an issue of freedom. Whether ZOG pays or the HMO pays or I pay doesn't offend my sense of personal autonomy. I'm interested in the all in cost, particularly as the tax code pushes it onto employers. Buchanan talked about GM being the largest health care company in the US. They then use health costs as a reason to ship good jobs overseas. At the root of the obscene costs are Szasz's points: not all people are equal, and not all diseases are equal.
BTW, does anyone know how health care became the dominant domestic political issue? While differing on details, the Republicans (in their typical way) don't really contest that point. My guess is it all had to do with
DLC "centrism" wherein the Democrats split from the unions and became the second party of Wall Street (and Silicon Valley). They still needed some white votes to supplement their minority and fag constituencies. They needed a populist issue and this be it.