Shock Horror: Health system obeys market forces

Prodigal State: Tort reform brings doctors back to Texas, Newt Gingrich/John Gill
Opinion: Despite the widespread belief that the laws of economics do not (or should not) apply to the medical industry, there is growing evidence to show that commonsense market practices are still the best way to reduce the cost and increase the availability of health services.
Synopsis: Severely cramping frivolous lawsuits leads to reduced insurance premiums which leads to more doctors.
Money quotes:
After years of losing doctors, Texas has added nearly 4,000 since passage of Proposition 12, including 127 orthopedic surgeons, almost 300 anesthesiologists, over 200 emergency room physicians, 146 new obstetricians, 58 neurologists and 24 neurosurgeons. The Texas Medical Board is anticipating some 4,000 applicants for new physician licenses this year alone--double last year's numbers, and 30% more than the greatest growth year ever.

Additionally, the market for insurance to protect health-care providers against the cost of lawsuits has become more robust and competitive. In 2002 there were only four companies writing policies. Today that number has more than tripled. And all of these trends are expected to continue.

Using free market ideas to build a better business

Wall Street Journal: Private Enterprise by Stephen Moore
Synopsis: Charles Koch (pronounced Coke) is the owner of the $60 billion, 80,000-employee Koch Enterprises - the largest and most profitable privately held company in America. His political philosophy, unlike left-wing capitalists Buffet and Soros, is based on applying free market principals at the level of the firm. Employees (all of them, not just management) are treated like owners and big bonuses are paid for entrepreneurial behaviour that betters the bottom line.
Money quotes:
"Just as central planning is a failure in running government, so it is at the level of the firm"

"Laws and principles that facilitate the advancement of peace, prosperity and social progress are as immutable as the laws that work in science . . . . Politicians often come up with misguided policy solutions, because they suffer from Hayek's 'fatal conceit' and believe they can violate basic laws of economics. They are just as misguided as the man who jumps out the 14th floor of a building convinced that he can repeal the law of gravity."