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> which should in theory make it more efficient for the sake of maximizing profit There are multiple reasons why this doesn't work for healthcare even in theor

> which should in theory make it more efficient for the sake of maximizing profit There are multiple reasons why this doesn't work for healthcare even in theory. - Emergency care can't be substituted without massive cost. Providers compete on distance not on price. - Emergency care can't be denied (or at least we don't want this) on the basis of price. - Health is not insurable like cars, etc. You can't predict in advance when you are going to get in a car wreck so you better buy insurance when you get the car. If you could, the price of the insurance would be the price of the car, and therefore worthless. But you could just wait until you feel sick to get health insurance. This is why the ACA has to be paired with the individual mandate to work properly.

conanbatt 8y ago
Emergency care being expensive is not a problem of insurance. Public hospitals are also expensive. Its related to other things.
- rtkwe 8y ago
  It's not the expense that's the problem the expense is a symptom and the problem is the attempt to treat healthcare like a market when consumers a) have very little ability to discover the price, b) have little option in substitution (if my appendix is ruptured my substitution to getting surgery is dying!) and c) many purchases are made under emergency situation with no time to price shop (or often the ability, no one can comparison shop unconscious in the back of an ambulance).
  - conanbatt 8y ago
    > to treat healthcare like a market when consumers a) have very little ability to discover the price There is HUGE price discoverability capacity in healthcare. But the US is not a free market: every single player has some sort of regulatory capture to mess it up, including workers, that get tax benefits and are blind to price through employer provided insurance. Price sensitivity does work for high deductible plans, pointing to the basic economic principal-agency problem of the current system: if you have low copays and you cant choose insurances because your employer pays for it, you are a price insensitive patient. My favorite example is OneMedical: one of the biggest complains patients have is "why do I have to pay 150 a year", while their healthcare plan is thousands A MONTH and a single doctor visit costs 300 U$S! > have little option in substitution (if my appendix is ruptured my substitution to getting surgery is dying!) Emergency healthcare is a small fraction of overall healthcare spending, and it is NOT expensive because of insurance, its expensive because hospitals are expensive. It doesn't make sense to complain to an auto-insurance company that fixing cars is expensive, its completley out of their hands, and they actually work in your favor to reduce costs if they can. And medicine has PLENTY of substitutes. From cheaper drugs, to less accessible and lower quality healthcare. It's called the Iron Triangle of Healthcare: cost-quality-access. You can find your place in the triangle.

conanbatt 8y ago

Emergency care being expensive is not a problem of insurance. Public hospitals are also expensive. Its related to other things.

rtkwe 8y ago
It's not the expense that's the problem the expense is a symptom and the problem is the attempt to treat healthcare like a market when consumers a) have very little ability to discover the price, b) have little option in substitution (if my appendix is ruptured my substitution to getting surgery is dying!) and c) many purchases are made under emergency situation with no time to price shop (or often the ability, no one can comparison shop unconscious in the back of an ambulance).
- conanbatt 8y ago
  > to treat healthcare like a market when consumers a) have very little ability to discover the price There is HUGE price discoverability capacity in healthcare. But the US is not a free market: every single player has some sort of regulatory capture to mess it up, including workers, that get tax benefits and are blind to price through employer provided insurance. Price sensitivity does work for high deductible plans, pointing to the basic economic principal-agency problem of the current system: if you have low copays and you cant choose insurances because your employer pays for it, you are a price insensitive patient. My favorite example is OneMedical: one of the biggest complains patients have is "why do I have to pay 150 a year", while their healthcare plan is thousands A MONTH and a single doctor visit costs 300 U$S! > have little option in substitution (if my appendix is ruptured my substitution to getting surgery is dying!) Emergency healthcare is a small fraction of overall healthcare spending, and it is NOT expensive because of insurance, its expensive because hospitals are expensive. It doesn't make sense to complain to an auto-insurance company that fixing cars is expensive, its completley out of their hands, and they actually work in your favor to reduce costs if they can. And medicine has PLENTY of substitutes. From cheaper drugs, to less accessible and lower quality healthcare. It's called the Iron Triangle of Healthcare: cost-quality-access. You can find your place in the triangle.