5 ms·
Lack of price transparency is the fatal flaw in nationalized healthcare. I'm endlessly surprised it's not top on the list at every debate. Lasik is an out-of-p
by awinter-py 10y ago
Lack of price transparency is the fatal flaw in nationalized healthcare. I'm endlessly surprised it's not top on the list at every debate.
Lasik is an out-of-pocket procedure. It has the highest satisfaction rate of any surgery and the price has gone steadily down since it was introduced.
Should all healthcare be out of pocket? Maybe not. But if most consumers purchased most health services retail instead of via invisible negotiated prices, insurance would get cheaper too. (And until that happens, prices will continue to go up).
Medicare set a cap on the first 30 days post heart-attack care in the 90s and hospitals respected it -- but day 31 got a lot more expensive.
- georgemcbay 10y agoInelastic demand is the fatal flaw in any non-nationalized non-single payer-system. Lasik is great, but it is a very optional surgery. Lots of people opt to just go with contact lenses or glasses, Lasik is just a more convenient longer term solution to the problem, but it isn't necessary for anyone. Where the the screws really get turned in health care costs are for the treatments that you actually need to have a reasonable chance to continue to exist should you have certain health issues: Hep-C regimens, EpiPen-type systems, etc. (Of course there are other factors that contribute on top of inelastic demand, like what I would consider too-lengthy intellectual property coverage for patented treatments, eliminating the possibility of cheaper alternatives altogether in some cases).
- awinter-py 10y agoIf there's a single effective treatment for Hep C that's a different question. This article is about an injector for naloxone. Are we really saying there's no market for a cheaper syringe? I hear your point that some treatments are difficult to make subject to market forces.
- georgemcbay 10y agoThere's a market for cheaper syringes, but nobody is serving it.. possibly due to what appears to be blatant and wide-scale price fixing in the pharmaceutical industry (including the generic manufacturers). https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/business/generic-drug-price-lawsuit-teva-mylan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/business/generic-drug-pri... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/14/feds-accuse-former-generic-drug-executives-of-price-fixing/?utm_term=.8490e3810d73 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/14/feds-...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- WalterBright 10y agoFor every medical condition, there is a long list of treatment options with varying levels of cost, efficacy, pain, convenience, etc. It can be quite elastic because of this.
- sethev 10y agoLack of transparency is an even greater fatal flaw in _non_ nationalized healthcare.
- yummyfajitas 10y agoActually from what I've seen, market forces fix this. In Asian countries with capitalist medicine (e.g. India and Thailand), you can just call up to inquire about the price for things. Consumers won't make a purchase if they don't know the price.
- maxxxxx 10y agoThen why does this not happen in the US? Even in Germany you can call a doctor and get a reasonable estimate upfront. Try doing this in the US.
- yummyfajitas 10y agoMost likely because the US does not have capitalist medicine.
- maxxxxx 10y agoGotta love the libertarians. If the market thing doesn't work they can just say "It's not capitalist enough". Same as the scrum people "Scrum not working for you? You are just doing it wrong."
- yummyfajitas 10y agoI'm not a libertarian. I have no idea how you can possibly characterize the US's highly regulated health system as capitalist - could you explain?
- maxxxxx 10y agoIn the US the quality of service is regulated but there are not many price regulations. Tell me, in what way would the US system have to change for medical providers to give clear pricing information? Be specific, don't use words like "capitalist" or "regulation".