Prices contain information--information that may be necessary to save someone's life.

In England, pay rates for medical professionals are nationalized, in keeping with the single-payer model. The implication of that single pay scale? You could die before your time.

Three researchers, including one from the Ministry of Health, say that in high-wage areas, the medical jobs are relatively unattractive, meaning that the best-qualified candidates seek employment elsewhere. This move has implications for health, with a 4 to 8% increase in deaths from acute myocardial infarction.

Of course a single-payer system could attempt to recognize regional differences in the cost of living. But the more that government pays all the bills, the more it is robbed of information about the scarcity of labor and demand for services--information that in some cases is life-saving.