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Why don't people in other countries have to "shop around" to keep healthcare prices at acceptable levels?
by Timon3 3y ago
Why don't people in other countries have to "shop around" to keep healthcare prices at acceptable levels?
- qwytw 3y agoBecause prices are more or less regulated and controlled. e.g. the Swiss healthcare system is privatized to a much higher degree than the US one (no Medicare/Medicaid equivalents) but 'basic' insurance plan prices and deductibles are fixed so prices still remain reasonable.
- Timon3 3y agoSo logically it would seem that the US should introduce regulation instead of forcing its people to shop around, right?
- qwytw 3y agoYou can have both? Regulated minimum insurance coverage, maximum premiums/deductibles and transparent prices and an option to shop around for non emergency cases. You still want providers competing either on price and service quality (I don't see any issues with that as). The problem with fully public systems in Europe nowadays is that you end up with two tiers. There is public option with poor service and several month long queues for poor people. People with higher incomes can get reasonably priced private insurance which lets them skip the queue, shop around for "better" doctors/service etc.. In this case it still ends up being subsidized by the public because higher income = better than average health and the government still ends up paying the bill for high cost treatment for serious diseases or emergencies. A well regulated fully private system with income based subsidies just seems like the more fair and efficient option and it should be better at handling supply issues. The main issue US seems to have is massive inefficiency and IMHO both regulation and increased competition is the best (and most feasibly) way to solve this.