Dr. Michel Accad: Why Can't We Pay Cash for Doctors?

Dr. Michel Accad is a practicing cardiologist who blogs for a medical audience at alertandoriented.com. He's written several articles about healthcare for mises.org, and you won't find many MDs as well versed in Austrian economics. Dr. Accad talks about practicing medicine in the Age of Obamacare, where every symptom and every treatment must fit into an insurance company code. Doctors are miserable, in debt like never before, and slaves to billing systems that consume their time. Worst of all, they've become de facto employees rather than trusted protectors of their patients' well-being. Without rational market pricing, will the system simply devolve until it collapses? Will a completely state-run system, like those in the UK or Canada, emerge in the US? Or will doctors at the vanguard of open pricing and cash for treatment become a viable alternative?