As a conglomerate system, it works pretty well. My own UK manages pretty well (current global economic catastrophe aside). Free market capitalism works great, WHEN customers can walk away from the market. When essential services are subject to teh whims of the corporate class, the same thing happens every time as we discovered during Thatcher's (and Major and Blair to a lesser extent) mania to privatise everything in sight: Prices soar, service deteriorates. Gas, electricity, water, rail. All of them were privatised in my lifetime and in every single case, prices soared, service collapsed.

When dealing with a service (and healthcare is a service, not a product) where your life is at serious risk without it, free market capitalism does not work.

And don't even get me started on the "free market uber alles" crowd...