If competition is so bad for healthcare, why is it that we in the UK with centralised and publicly funded NHS can't get new innovative treatments that are available in the US? It's not because the NHS isn't funded enough. This also applied to low cost treatments. They are just so bureaucratic and risk averse being politically run. For example, I know someone who recently tested positive for high risk for cervical cancer.  The only treatment available in UK involves surgery that risk affecting fertility, She is now using a credit card to visit a doctor in the US to get a non surgical treatment that swabs the affected area. I have had similar experience, and many other people I know you just can't get basic treatment, not because of money because of "evidence based medicine" decided by people with poor statistics skills who can't evaluate spurious data.