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Consider the recent announcement that a line-by-line review of the federal budget by the Obama administration found just $17 billion in savings from $3.6 trillion budget. That’s far less than one half of 1 percent of the total budget. And the constituencies who benefit from that $17 billion are now mobilizing to oppose even those absurdly modest cuts. Just like producers who have no competition, federal agencies have no incentive to improve or to cut their budgets. History shows that the government agencies cut health care “costs” chiefly by imposing price controls on the private sector.

Corporatism represents an ugly deal between governments and producers. The hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and health care labor unions hope that the corporativist bargain will guarantee future profits while eliminating competition. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won’t. But there’s absolutely no question that corporativist health care will increase inefficiencies, stifle innovation, and reduce consumer choice. That’s a disastrous deal for the rest of us.

I hope more and more Americans learn to understand this.