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I don't see how mandating clear pricing is supposed to address medical inefficiency. If it threatens your life, you're going to pay no matter what, or in other

I don't see how mandating clear pricing is supposed to address medical inefficiency. If it threatens your life, you're going to pay no matter what, or in other words, demand is inelastic. Insulin is often used as an example of an inelastic good in Economics 101. I'm not sure how people are supposed to comparison shop for hospitals in an emergency situation and even for elective procedures, lots of hospitals in an area are often owned by the same overarching company and it's not difficult to collude. For "the market" to work, we would need to let people die, which is not very popular among society at large.

wrs 7y ago
No. For the market to work, substitute goods would need to have transparent pricing so the customer can choose with price in mind. Most ultrasounds — indeed, most entire hospitals — are pretty close to identical goods. Everyone will die without food, but supermarkets don't take advantage of that fact to mark up food by 500%.
- minikites 7y ago
  It's easy to evaluate the quality of an apple and there are dozens of substitute goods (other fruit). It's not easy to evaluate the quality of an ultrasound machine, the staff required to operate it, and their interpretation of the results. Depending on the medical issue, there may not be a substitute good (procedure). Medicine does not work with market principles.
  - wrs 7y ago
    I disagree, I would think that imaging centers produce comparable results. On the medical side, the substitute good isn't a different procedure, it's the same procedure done by a different provider. Most people do not currently make any of those evaluations anyway, so as far as the consumer is concerned, they are de facto substitute goods since they have no rationale for making a choice.
legitster 7y ago
I would recon life threatening emergency medical care accounts for a small fraction of overall healthcare. Even comparison shopping for birth is virtually impossible and one has 9 months to do it.

wrs 7y ago

No. For the market to work, substitute goods would need to have transparent pricing so the customer can choose with price in mind. Most ultrasounds — indeed, most entire hospitals — are pretty close to identical goods. Everyone will die without food, but supermarkets don't take advantage of that fact to mark up food by 500%.

minikites 7y ago
It's easy to evaluate the quality of an apple and there are dozens of substitute goods (other fruit). It's not easy to evaluate the quality of an ultrasound machine, the staff required to operate it, and their interpretation of the results. Depending on the medical issue, there may not be a substitute good (procedure). Medicine does not work with market principles.
- wrs 7y ago
  I disagree, I would think that imaging centers produce comparable results. On the medical side, the substitute good isn't a different procedure, it's the same procedure done by a different provider. Most people do not currently make any of those evaluations anyway, so as far as the consumer is concerned, they are de facto substitute goods since they have no rationale for making a choice.

legitster 7y ago

I would recon life threatening emergency medical care accounts for a small fraction of overall healthcare. Even comparison shopping for birth is virtually impossible and one has 9 months to do it.