In Query XVII of Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson joked about how stupid it would be if the government had a say in the provision of health care:
Had not the Roman government permitted free enquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free enquiry been indulged, at the aera of the reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged.
Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potatoe as an article of food.
Evidence from 2010 going forward in the US corroborates his thinking on the matter:
In a free society, only a free market in medicine would exist. There’d be no such thing as government-provided healthcare, or government-mandated healthcare, etc. There’d be no “public-private partnerships” for the purpose of dispensing medicine. People would no longer be at the mercy of bureaucrats in the enterprise of healing.
Reference
Library of Congress. Notes on the state of Virginia. By Thomas Jefferson. Query XVII. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/gdc/lhbcb/04902/04902.pdf