Yeah, Conway's got it about right. For critical services like health care, communications, transportation, police, fire, etc. the free market has not and does not give consumers the MicroEcon 101 fairy tale choices in so alive in Jay's not-so-active-imagination.
Our health care costs are clearly spiraling out of control: 2 months after I signed up for one of the cheapest and most highly rated catastrophic HSA plans (personal responsiblity!) my premiums went up 25%. Um...what???
Might just have something to do with our doctor's making 2x on average that of any other civilized country (virtually all of which offer better health care, to all, much cheaper), the 12% premium we uniquely pay for private insurance billing/coding/admin clusterfuckedness, and profit motive upselling of expensive procedures that have either a null or negative effect on patient outcomes...all 'free market' driven.
The more you read about our health care system, the more you realize that
a) The 'die in line' myths about other countries are just that. Far from it: their citizens are laughing at our sorry shitpile of a system.
b) Our public health care systems are excellent...transition would be little problem
c) Our existing system is inherently cruel...not a value conservatives worry about, granted, but some of the rest of us actually give a shit about each other beyond our immediate friends and family.