What If The Problem With Health Insurance Was Insurance?

What if the problem with health insurance wasn't about the government?

After watching months of mindless blathering about government bad vs government good and how it is saving or ruining our lives yada yada, it is refreshing to see at least one thoughtful and creative response to the health insurance crisis.

This blog from Mark Cuban outlines a different approach, suggesting we try a more commercial approach. Leave it to Mark Cuban to come up with something brilliant like this.

How about another oddball approach? Here is my beginnings of a thought. 

No insurance, because insurance is free. Instead, some kind of purchasing arrangement. The first order of business is you have to take away the free part of insurance, that is what ruins everything. Instead, there is no free, not ever. Every transaction comes out of your pocket, and the provider must negotiate for your hard earned cash just like Walmart does.

It's crazy enough to work. I guarantee you prices would drop like a rock, and keep dropping. Got a cold? Online resources would let you look up charts to check your symptoms against known remedies and places to get them dealt with for a fee. Need heart surgery? Barter with surgical group first, then go in and get cut on.