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That's true if you have a free market, but the healthcare market is not free due to supply restrictions (can't make new doctors easily), demand restrictions (em
by jeffreyrogers 8y ago
That's true if you have a free market, but the healthcare market is not free due to supply restrictions (can't make new doctors easily), demand restrictions (employer or government bears most of the cost, but patients are consuming healthcare services), and complex regulatory things that increase overhead. So an idealogically pure libertarian would argue that unions are bad, but a more pragmatic libertarian could argue that unions are bad overall, but might help address some of the current problems with the healthcare system.
- savanaly 8y agoI guess I interpreted the argument as being about workers and employers, with healthcare cost as a given, with the debate mainly being about how much the employer should subsidize healthcare. Which basically amounts to how high should the wage be since you can lump in any subsidy to healthcare with the standard wage and consider that the entire compensation package that's being negotiated over. And in the case of software engineers specifically, which is what I responded to, the market has a lot of buyers and sellers.