A few of your questions can be answered with some independent research. But an overall answer to this question is..The private health insurance market is dominated by four gigantic insurers: UnitedHealth, WellPoint, Aetna, and Cigna. In the last five years, these companies have combined to earn over $44 billion in profits; UnitedHealth alone has made over $17 billion in profits over that period. That's enough to hire a whole lot of really good lobbyists methinks.

Here's a thoughtful article that should be read to balance the volatile anti-government opinions that are so prevalent...http://prospect.org/cs/articles?arti...res_true_price