Health care would be cheaper for all if the government would 1) Repeal the Kefauver Amendments that gave the FDA the powers to demand companies prove drugs are safe and effective. This has drastically increased the costs of bringing a drug to market, those costs get passed on to the consumer 2) The government needs to stop aiding the nations most powerful labor union, the AMA. What noone ever asked in the Bakke case was,Why are not there more medical schools available to meet the demand of those wishing to become doctors? Our situation is typical, government gets involved and screws up royally. What is the liberal answer?, more government!

Is this a proposal to return to the time before the FDA and buyer beware for products. Capitalism simply reacts to cost/benefit analysis. If it is in someone's economic interest to market poison it will be marketed by someone unless their is a prohibitive cost for doing so. Even if relatives of the deceased may ultimately sue the company dry, law suits cannot bring back the dead.

Forget going back to the 1940s, many countries drug policies keep the price of drugs produced in America well below the prices we are currently being charged.

From my days in the military, I saw one effect of free, or nearly free healthcare that would have to be controlled. Some people just have to see a doctor for little things that can be taken care of at home, or by a nurse, or PA, and they tie up the doctors time.
Another thing I heard when someone was being criticized for taking some health risks was the comment, "I don't care, I get free medical".
I am against universal free health care, but would like to see the government pick up the tab for those life threatening illnesses that would bankrupt a family. You shouldn't have to choose between staying alive and being forced into poverty.