5 ms·

>If health care was free, a problem arises. Everyone will think they're entitled to the best doctor. Who gets the best doctor? Oversimplifying here, but how ab

>If health care was free, a problem arises. Everyone will think they're entitled to the best doctor. Who gets the best doctor? Oversimplifying here, but how about setting a base line for free health care. And then if someone wants to get the 'best' doctor they can pay extra?

WalterBright 9y ago
Because then the people who only get the baseline become a political force for how unfair that is. (We see this in the newspaper essentially every day regarding the public school system.)
- killjoywashere 9y ago
  Yet the doctors who charge outrageous sums may not actually be as good as the doctors everyone has access to at the county hospital. Indeed, teaching hospitals are known to have better outcomes, and serve the underserved.
pessimizer 9y ago
Same reason why not having net neutrality is a problem. Eventually health care gets terrible for the people who aren't paying, or are paying less, and you've institutionalized a two or more tier public service based on wealth. What if somebody could pay extra to have the best firemen, or the best police? WalterBright has posed a real problem here, but I honestly think that the solution is just that patients pick their doctors, and if they can't get the doctor they want, they can get on a waiting list for that doctor while seeing another. Additionally, that waiting list would not involve any administrator latitude or patronage, just list seniority.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  On the other hand, most health care is routine, and one doctor is as good as another. The best doctors are needed for the hard cases. A strict waiting list does not allocate doctors to where they would be most effective. It's similar to the inherent misallocations of rationing - goods & services are not allocated to where they are most needed.

5 ms·

>If health care was free, a problem arises. Everyone will think they're entitled to the best doctor. Who gets the best doctor? Oversimplifying here, but how ab

by shusson 9y ago

WalterBright 9y ago
Because then the people who only get the baseline become a political force for how unfair that is. (We see this in the newspaper essentially every day regarding the public school system.)
- killjoywashere 9y ago
  Yet the doctors who charge outrageous sums may not actually be as good as the doctors everyone has access to at the county hospital. Indeed, teaching hospitals are known to have better outcomes, and serve the underserved.
pessimizer 9y ago
Same reason why not having net neutrality is a problem. Eventually health care gets terrible for the people who aren't paying, or are paying less, and you've institutionalized a two or more tier public service based on wealth. What if somebody could pay extra to have the best firemen, or the best police? WalterBright has posed a real problem here, but I honestly think that the solution is just that patients pick their doctors, and if they can't get the doctor they want, they can get on a waiting list for that doctor while seeing another. Additionally, that waiting list would not involve any administrator latitude or patronage, just list seniority.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  On the other hand, most health care is routine, and one doctor is as good as another. The best doctors are needed for the hard cases. A strict waiting list does not allocate doctors to where they would be most effective. It's similar to the inherent misallocations of rationing - goods & services are not allocated to where they are most needed.