5 ms·

There are insane controls on supply. It’s not a free market. Everyone has to choose a Ferrari treatment or not go to the doctor. There’s no budget option.

by gcapu 3y ago

Invictus0 3y ago
Something like 25% of healthcare visits are now done by nurses and PAs. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/fourth-us-health-visits-now-delivered-non-physicians https://hms.harvard.edu/news/fourth-us-health-visits-now-del...
- gcapu 3y ago
  That doesn’t mean we have a market. I was billed $1000 for en ECG for example. I wouldn’t have paid for it. It’s a simple procedure that doesn’t require a genius or advanced equipment. I’d rather an immigrant with a foreign degree look at it for $80 than a licensed American doctor for $1000. I’m not allowed to do so. I can’t choose the quality of care I get.
  - evulhotdog 3y ago
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but specific to ECG, it does not actually require a trained physician or even a nurse to read, legally within the US. It can be basically anybody that the overseeing physician deems appropriate. Could be basically anybody.
kulahan 3y ago
>There's no budget option What do you say to things like shopping around using newly-transparented prices, telehealth, minute/community clinic visits, and nurse help lines?
- digdugdirk 3y ago
  That isn't actually a thing. Those prices aren't transparent, and there's no guarantee that an up-front price quote will be the price you're actually billed for.
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    You might enjoy one of my all-time favorite episodes of econtalk: https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-care/ https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-c... The guest is the head of the Surgical Center of Oklahoma. You can see prices of procedures very easily on their website. That's what you'll pay, even if something goes wrong. Surgeons earn more when working there than they earn at a regular hospital while patients pay less. However, no insurance wants to work with them. Supposedly because they have a price and won't negotiate with insurance who get part of their money as reward from large customers for negotiating prices down.
jbullock35 3y ago
Note also the last line of the article: "This looks a lot like a labour market that has been rigged in favour of the insiders." That's exactly right. In the U.S., the medical profession is an AMA-led cartel.
randomdata 3y ago
The law of supply and demand is not dependent on a free market. It is merely observance of the social dynamic between humans (as well as other living creatures!) that plays out when scarcity is a factor. Indeed, in this case the scarcity is, at least in part, artificial, but the cost still comes down to supply and demand at the end of the day.

There are insane controls on supply. It’s not a free market. Everyone has to choose a Ferrari treatment or not go to the doctor. There’s no budget option.

by gcapu 3y ago

There are insane controls on supply. It’s not a free market. Everyone has to choose a Ferrari treatment or not go to the doctor. There’s no budget option.

Invictus0 3y ago

Something like 25% of healthcare visits are now done by nurses and PAs. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/fourth-us-health-visits-now-delivered-non-physicians https://hms.harvard.edu/news/fourth-us-health-visits-now-del...

gcapu 3y ago
That doesn’t mean we have a market. I was billed $1000 for en ECG for example. I wouldn’t have paid for it. It’s a simple procedure that doesn’t require a genius or advanced equipment. I’d rather an immigrant with a foreign degree look at it for $80 than a licensed American doctor for $1000. I’m not allowed to do so. I can’t choose the quality of care I get.
- evulhotdog 3y ago
  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but specific to ECG, it does not actually require a trained physician or even a nurse to read, legally within the US. It can be basically anybody that the overseeing physician deems appropriate. Could be basically anybody.

kulahan 3y ago

>There's no budget option What do you say to things like shopping around using newly-transparented prices, telehealth, minute/community clinic visits, and nurse help lines?

digdugdirk 3y ago
That isn't actually a thing. Those prices aren't transparent, and there's no guarantee that an up-front price quote will be the price you're actually billed for.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  You might enjoy one of my all-time favorite episodes of econtalk: https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-care/ https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-c... The guest is the head of the Surgical Center of Oklahoma. You can see prices of procedures very easily on their website. That's what you'll pay, even if something goes wrong. Surgeons earn more when working there than they earn at a regular hospital while patients pay less. However, no insurance wants to work with them. Supposedly because they have a price and won't negotiate with insurance who get part of their money as reward from large customers for negotiating prices down.

jbullock35 3y ago

Note also the last line of the article: "This looks a lot like a labour market that has been rigged in favour of the insiders." That's exactly right. In the U.S., the medical profession is an AMA-led cartel.

randomdata 3y ago

The law of supply and demand is not dependent on a free market. It is merely observance of the social dynamic between humans (as well as other living creatures!) that plays out when scarcity is a factor. Indeed, in this case the scarcity is, at least in part, artificial, but the cost still comes down to supply and demand at the end of the day.