You had your free market paradise. Fake doctors built empires on fake medicine, and nobody was able to practically afford anything. That's why the insurance industry began.
"After independence the character of the physician changed. They lost their special social status. Few went to Europe to study and thus they were cut off from advances on the other side of the Atlantic. Fewer still came from the educated population. Standards of medical education in this country declined dramatically. Minimally-trained doctors opened their own medical schools as moneymaking ventures encouraged by a growing commercial and acquisitive social climate. To entice students they eliminated most of the academic requirements that had been traditional. They seldom offered any laboratory experience or taught anatomy or even required literacy for admission. To compete, even the colleges with medical schools reduced their requirements."
As it stands, occupational licensing in the market creates deadweightloss, it's a big reason prices are higher. Even scaling it down moderately would reduce prices significantly, but I prefer it be near eliminated.
