The point made about tort/insurance reform is that it requires regulation. Tort reform, believe it or not, is actually the government restricting freedom on your ability to legally recover damages. There is no "less government" in that solution.
The government has always had their hands in Medicare. Its run and funded by the US Government and has been since inception. There's a vast number of reasons why health insurance costs have risen over the last 40 years; legal rulings, new practices that cost money, new equipment, etc. There's a hopelessly complex billing system behind all of it that costs until billions to operate.
To reply to a different post....
An uninsured friend of mine had his lip torn off by a dog. He went to the EC and they gave him 2 shots, bandages, and a phone number of a surgeon, since they had none on staff capable of the job. He went to the surgeon and had it reattached.
When the bills came, the hospital charged him around $30,000 and the surgeon charged him about $500.
The government has nothing to do with any of that. An emergency clinic isn't going to do reconstructive surgery. If he don't have insurance, they charge you crazy amounts of money because you aren't capable of negotiating the price down. You think Blue Cross Blue Shield would actually pay $30,000 for that surgery? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Let me make this very clear: Medicaid and Medicare are not responsible for the inflation of medical costs. They pay out quickly for procedures and exams, but they also pay crappy amounts. Doctors and facilities always prefer commercial/private insurance because they pay more money. Where I work, a medical procedure out of pocket will run you about $1500 minimum. That's no insurance, I'm paying cash. If Medicaid is paying for it? They might pay 1/10th of that. Health care providers aren't all that excited about one payer healthcare because they'd make less money, not because it benefits you.
Then there is another friend who has $1100 deducted from his pension for insurance. He's paid out in excess of $100,000 since the last time they've paid a dime. He can't even cancel his insurance to put that $1100 a month toward the bills.
Its the government's fault that his private insurance plan paid through by his pension won't cover his medical expenses and probably wants him to go to crappy doctors? No, it isn't, actually.