You already have a monopoly...it is called MEDICARE. They set the prices for everyone else.
We agree that they have near monopoly power now. This is why we need to be fearful of single payor as that power would be even stronger. Due to the medicare's current quasi-monopoly power, next year we face a 20%+ cut due to the arbitrary funding formula and we also have been unable to balance bill since 1994 or so. if we went to single payor=govt, our options would be even less.
I can easily imagine where the govt would make participation in medicare a requirement for practicing medicine, eliminating cash practices. A monopoly could also disregard physician business cases and force e-prescribing, force quality metrics, force specific EMR adoption, and force particular medical treatment options.
