Gas inelastic as a good, but gas vendors are easily substitutable with low friction. The vendor you get gas from one week doesn't need to be the same as the nex

Gas inelastic as a good, but gas vendors are easily substitutable with low friction. The vendor you get gas from one week doesn't need to be the same as the next. And that transaction, the purchase of gas is completely interchangeable and identical from one week to the next. Medicare care in general does not have any of those characteristics (except for maybe annual checkups - but that's not where the bulk of medical costs are in our system). That has to do with the nature of the product and how it must be delivered, not necessarily with any monopoly effect. Even with a checkup, if you go to a different doctor every time that would reduce the effectiveness of the care.