I honestly don't understand why good healthcare should develop under free rational conditions. Why shouldn't a hospital charge your everything while you are in critical condition? I mean, it's a voluntary deal, take it or leave it, right?
You could ask the same question most things. Food and water for example - both more urgent and more necessary than most medical care. The costs are still low.
For food and water, if you were caught in a tough place, I suppose I could charge you for everything. But most people aren't refugees in a hostile land, so they have the time to drive around.
For a medical emergency it does make sense for a doctor to ask if you would like to voluntarily consider an interesting bargain.
The vast, vast majority of the spending in the healthcare industry is for things that you have time to drive around for.
And I'd still rather have a private option in the event of a medical emergency. Ironically, insurance in a free market is actually really good at sorting out that sort of risk. The insurance company has strong incentives to negotiate what will happen in an emergency and it isn't that hard to make agreements with people in advance.
