3 ms·

> We do not have a free market. Other countries seem to have solid solutions for "socializing" medicine. I can't think of any highly functional system that is a

> We do not have a free market. Other countries seem to have solid solutions for "socializing" medicine. I can't think of any highly functional system that is a free market. I don't even think that one is possible without people dying in the streets. The government is perfectly capable of ensuring access to a market without regulating it to death. The SNAP program (Food Stamps) is a great example of how this works in a separate market with very little elasticity in demand.

oblio 6y ago
I don't understand this. Almost every other developed country has a system that works for healthcare. It's almost always single payer or something where you definitely don't go shopping around for hospitals. Doesn't it start to feel a bit like indoctrination when arguing for a "free market" when no other developed country has a free market for healthcare? Is everyone else stupid? What aren't they seeing? Especially in the age of the internet? I just can't follow this logic. I would love to get someone who argues from the "free market" point of view do some introspection and explain the logic in a way that doesn't feel like repeating the same 2-3-4 ideas which as far as I can see, are common talking points in the US. So, repeating the question, what is every other developed country missing? Why aren't they all doing this, if it's obviously superior?
- Brian_K_White 6y ago
  I look forward to the utter absense of any answers to this question, or the entertainingly inventive ones.
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  I’m very much a free marketer for most things, as it seems to work well. It’s possible that it might work for health care too, but I don’t think we really know. For a lot of folks the free market is an article of faith, and I think that’s where a lot of support for this idea comes from. Even if a free market could work in the US, I have no idea how we could get from here to there without making things worse along the way.

oblio 6y ago

I don't understand this. Almost every other developed country has a system that works for healthcare. It's almost always single payer or something where you definitely don't go shopping around for hospitals. Doesn't it start to feel a bit like indoctrination when arguing for a "free market" when no other developed country has a free market for healthcare? Is everyone else stupid? What aren't they seeing? Especially in the age of the internet? I just can't follow this logic. I would love to get someone who argues from the "free market" point of view do some introspection and explain the logic in a way that doesn't feel like repeating the same 2-3-4 ideas which as far as I can see, are common talking points in the US. So, repeating the question, what is every other developed country missing? Why aren't they all doing this, if it's obviously superior?

Brian_K_White 6y ago
I look forward to the utter absense of any answers to this question, or the entertainingly inventive ones.
amanaplanacanal 6y ago
I’m very much a free marketer for most things, as it seems to work well. It’s possible that it might work for health care too, but I don’t think we really know. For a lot of folks the free market is an article of faith, and I think that’s where a lot of support for this idea comes from. Even if a free market could work in the US, I have no idea how we could get from here to there without making things worse along the way.