If a profit based system is not right for health care, why is it right other basic necessities (food, water, housing)? Should these sectors of the economy also become socialized?
You seem to misunderstand the uses of a profit based system. Yes, corporations are in it for the money, but there is not a conflict of interest. Look at it this way: your dollars are votes. Whichever candidate (corporation) provides the best services, in turn gets the most votes (dollars). In a capitalistic society, corporations only survive if people choose to buy a product that they are offering. Corporations must constantly change in order to meet the demand or they fail.
I would also like to note that with all of the government funding for medicinal research in the US, only about 3-5% of new medicine was government funded. Corporations want to make money, so they MUST innovate to please the consumer. Whichever company finds the next cure will be reimbursed for their expenditures from future sales. Upwards of 90% of all drugs never pass the 18-20 years of the FDA's testing. With the millions of dollars needed to research and develop new drugs, no wonder prices are so high. With great risk, comes great reward. Without the long, drawn-out drug approval process, companies would be more likely to create more drugs.
Profits send market signals - telling companies what to make and of how much. For a more detailed explanation of profits please look at this chapter from "Economics in One Lesson"
http://jim.com/econ/chap22p1.htmlThe health situation in the US is a mess, but not because of the market. The health care market is one of the most regulated industries. It has gotten worse and more expensive as regulation has increased. Take a look at this article, but please if you argue with it, argue the points, not the source.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/articles/57/medical-costs-can-be-cut-with-freedom/"Such reasoning neglects the reality of a monopolized health care industry, and even the reality of health care itself, where true "free" market competition is not practical."
The only TRUE monopolies that have ever existed have been government granted. A single payer system is exactly that - a forced government monopoly. Currently our health care system is an oligarchy, not because of the free market, but because of state-mandated HMO's.
"such companies continue on wielding their political power."
If you mean this in a metaphorical way, let me differentiate between corporations' power and government power. Corporations have no more power than what they can get from the market; people make these votes every day. A company can be voted in or out overnight. People have to choose to support them; governments use force. If you mean political power by what it actually means, let me clear things up. If a corporation has political power, that is not free market capitalism, that is corporatism.
"The point is that privatization of services that directly affect common good among people works contrary to the incentive of any surviving business."
You are again missing the function of profits. This is not a conflict of interest. I'm sorry that I won't do justice to you in explaining the function of profits, so I hope you will take a look at this selection from Ludwig Von Mises:
http://mises.org/story/2321#b1He talks about the function of profits, what would happen if profits were eliminated, and he also argues against some of the other objections to a profit based system.
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