In the US at least, there are pockets in the medical industry which largely operate on a very free market basis, like Lasik eye surgery. It's relatively affordable, tons of options to choose from, quality is high, etc.. And that's because government bureaucrats haven't *yet* infiltrated this niche.
When government attempts to control something, they: (a) force people to pay for it via taxation, and (b) introduce intense regulation which sets a high barrier of entry, resulting in less competition... you end up with a broken ass, inefficient, costly clusterfuck. We can pretty much see that with anything government attempts to control.
There are actually some surgical centers in the US that don't accept medicaid / medicare, and publicly post their prices for surgical procedures. Their costs are a small fraction of what regular hospitals charge.
http://www.surgerycenterok.com/pricing/
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013...-transparency/
Some might say, "Well, if hospitals don't accept medicaid/medicare, the poorest of poor won't receive healthcare!", not true. Healthcare used to only cost a day's earnings for an entire year of coverage. I posted the video in the other healthcare thread going on now.