Esteemed economist Paul Krugman echoes the idea that unregulated, capitalist medicine is bad medicine.

Now nobody is proposing that Americans be forced to get their insurance from the government. The "public option," if it materializes, will be just that -- an option Americans can choose. And the reason for providing this option was clearly laid out in Mr. Obama's letter: It will give Americans "a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep the insurance companies honest."

Those last five words are crucial because history shows that the insurance companies will do nothing to reform themselves unless forced to do so.

Market forces had their shot. They've had their shot for centuries. Ask any conservative what they think of healthcare in America, and they won't deny that it's broken. When you ask them how to fix it though, their response is a sheepish and vague "use market forces," which to me translates into, "let the robber-barons run the show."

That's how I'm going to start posing the issue now. It's a David-and-Goliath battle between Obama and the centuries-old robber-barons of the healthcare industry. How do we deal with the healthcare robber-barons? How do we dispose of them?

Update: This was actually not the "latest" Krugman column, but it was new to me.