I took 5 economics courses in college, all but one taught by extreme neoclassical liberals. I drank the free market kool aid in a big way, but fortunately along the way I got a little balance from a political economy course out of the poly sci dept.

I've done plenty of graphs on why price controls don't work. Basic supply and demand graphs. It applies to competitive markets, not markets where there is obvious collusion. Since insurance companies don't play by anti-trust rules price controls matched with regulatory coverage requirements are a workable solution. So is introducing competition. Obviously the latter is the better solution but it has been problematic getting agreement on how to do it. The public option is favored by most progressives. Allowing interstate competition would be fine if all states had the same regulations. The GOP plan would allow all the insurance companies to move to the state with the most anti-consumer regulations and operate nationally from there.