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How much competition is there in health care, really? An oligopoly controls most of the insurance market, another oligopoly controls most of the hospitals, and
by leereeves 9y ago
How much competition is there in health care, really?
An oligopoly controls most of the insurance market, another oligopoly controls most of the hospitals, and medical schools openly collude (through the AAMC) to limit the number of doctors.
All sanctioned by a government run by politicians funded by these organizations.
- ekianjo 9y agoExactly. That's not an exactly free market to operate in to begin with. Contrast that with the software/hardware markets, or even consumer goods markets, and the difference in terms of outcomes is pretty obvious. The problem with healthcare is that there is no direct "pay for service" system. It's all a mix of insurances, hidden costs, complex pricing systems (with little to no elasticity once fixed) defined by governments and third parties that have nothing to do with the end user.
- drewrv 9y agoAgreed that it's not exactly a free market right now, but pretending a truly free market would improve things is a little ridiculous. If you fall off a ladder are you going to be shopping around for a good price on an ambulance ride, calling ER's to get the best deal, etc? That assumes there is more than one hospital nearby, more than one ambulance company, etc. Much of the country only has one nearby ER. What happens in a "free" market when you absolutely have to purchase something from a monopoly?
- ekianjo 9y agoit would anyway benefit from being more Free than it is right now, no need to go into philosophical hypotheses of what fully free markets would look like. This is not my poInt at all.