Free-market conservatives and libertarians have made the case that sweeping health care reform, especially the inclusion of a government-run health insurance option, would undermine the free-market for health insurance. They rightly say that, without a free market, there are little or no incentives for promoting innovation or efficiency. The great thing about our system is that the more companies compete for our business, the more they must produce a better product at lower cost, and so on. But this is a fallacy because the health insurance industry is not a free market right now.
Something like televisions exist in a free market because consumers, if they don't like any of the new TVs on the market, can simply keep their old one. If they really don't like the market, they can even forgo owning one altogether; it will make you unpopular on game day, but it won't risk your life. Insurance is different. Anyone with a sense of basic self-preservation has no choice but to buy health insurance every single month. You cannot opt out, there are few options to choose from, and it's difficult to know how to price your future risk of injury. So health insurance companies have distorted incentives to innovate or provide a more cost-effective product.