Maybe, before y'all starting discussing (or even arguing) about this Health Care Plan, you could one-up your Representative and actually read the bill:
http://www.capwiz.com/afanet/webreturn/?url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3200:
Personally, I find it outright frightening. 
Wow, that is an interesting perspective on regulation. I'd never thought about the angle of working harder to innovate in order to maximize profits within regulated cost limits. I'm over 35, but I must admit I don't really remember how well that system worked. There must have been some reason whey they broke that up. Can you give us a little background on that?
A very fair question.
The old timers realized that certain services were essential for the Country. We forget that the US is still a fairly young compared to Europe.
When the telegraph, railroads, electricity, radio, television, and airplanes came along they had to incorporate that into our system. These utilities were considered essential services for the Nation to grow. Rather than operating these businesses, the Government allowed them to be private but regulated them. The old timers also realized you needed stability to avoid chaos, you could not have 20 phone Companies running wires and planting poles all over the place, nor could you have people just set up a transmitter and broadcast.
The Airlines are a very good case. We never had a National Airline. Airlines that traveled across State lines had a set fare, it did not matter which you chose, a ticket cost the same. They were not allowed to give away any special premiums. They competed on service alone. If they lost your luggage, you were given an immediate $300.00. If the plane was delayed more that a given time, they were bound to give you a rebate. If it was a major delay they had to get you a Hotel room, you did not sleep on the floor in the Airport. In 1974 the price for a round trip NY to Cali cost $495 for a Coach seat. Each Airline made a profit, and that profit was a result of customer experience. The Airlines were the carrier for US Airmail, for which they were paid, and each Airline had it's share of the Mail service. Today FEDEX carries the US mail.
There has always been a school of thought that regulation suppressed the free market from growth. That is true in some cases, the old timers were also were Empire builders not Socialists, but again they were savvy and knew you could also create chaos if you supposed that people would always do the right thing.
Ronald Reagan who I greatly admired, was a free market thinker, he went too far. The Airline regulations were dismantled and there was a boom for a period of time, anyone who could lease a Plane had a Airline. The fares fell and the service also suffered, you now have to pay for your luggage, the Planes are dirty, Pilots badly trained, and if there is a delay, too bad for you. As these Airlines go under and are acquired by other Airlines, we wil be back where we were and none the better for it.
The Banks and financial institution were tightly regulated after the Depression of the 1930's. Franklin Roosevelt reached out the the the biggest financial manipulators and put them in charge. Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK closed all the loopholes he and his cronies used. While these guys pulled some dirty stunts, they also knew they had to keep everything from going to hell if the Nation would grow. So while the medicine tasted nasty, it was necessary.
Bush II and Congress were dumb enough to undo things put into place by people much smarter than they. Regulations put into place for a specific reasons were ended. You can see the result.
Alan Greenspan was the most admired man in America at one time, he was a rabid deregulator. Now he is scrambling to trying to salvage some of his reputation, he is now viewed in the Economic community as an idiot. What he did was help create this smoke a mirror boom, and the bust is now in his lap.
The Government has always subsidized businesses in some way or other. The farmers were paid to not to grow food to support prices. Government land was leased for a pittance to allow logging on public land for the timber companies.
The Oil Companies were given large Tax breaks since their product was considered a decreasing resource.
Now as Hondaman says perhaps we need solid regulation to assure a less chaotic Health care system in which Community Hospitals are not being closed at a furious rate, people are not denied or have essential treatments delayed. If someone changes jobs and insurers, the company will not be allowed to call their child's Asthma a preexisting condition and deny coverage. If your Company closes, you will have affordable coverage until you are back on your feet.
For me it is not so much about dismantling what is in place, it is keeping what we have from falling into chaos and the Nation go through a serious upheaval. The US is now at a crossroads in many areas, the decisions made today will dictate what our position in the World is in the future.
