Healthcare is ripe with market failures - everything you are describing is well studied. Those who argue for a completely unregulated market, in my limited inte

Healthcare is ripe with market failures - everything you are describing is well studied. Those who argue for a completely unregulated market, in my limited interactions, have not usually studied economics or the concept of market failures. Market failures are generally associated with public goods or government regulation. To name a few with healthcare: Information Asymmetry. It should be expected that a patient does not know what a Level IV emergency is and the complete ins and outs of how they are going to be charged. I'd argue that the industry has intentionally amplified this market failure. Furthermore, patients are often left with the final decision, but who is going to disagree with a trained professional on their required treatment? It's like going to a mechanic when you have no idea what's wrong with your car. You kind of are trusting the mechanic isn't taking advantage of you (and that is regulated). Or you have to reduce the asymmetry by learning about the basics of cars. Medical research has the attributes of a public good: Non-excludability and non-rivalrous - when something is discovered it's generally known to everyone without dropping in supply and the information is available to everyone (yes the product which results is rivalrous and excludable in the same country, hence it works as a private good - but then that product has non-competitive markets). Non-competitive markets with respect to rural areas are also mentioned in the article. Much like the issue with utility companies and broadband providers (the latter of which was shown to be a partial public good in the US with the infrastructure bill).