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I think you’d be surprised how little price competition there would be if everyone paid out of pocket. It won’t change insurance premiums; it won’t change the a

I think you’d be surprised how little price competition there would be if everyone paid out of pocket. It won’t change insurance premiums; it won’t change the amount of investment (training and certification) needed to become a health care provider; it won’t change the price of advanced medical equipment; and it won’t change the price of patented drugs. Before you conclude that the free market can solve everything, consider too that health care isn’t a typical service that follows ia supply/demand curve. The demand curve is practically vertical, especially when your life is on the line. You’re not going to shop around when your appendix is about to burst. Plus there are still high base costs, and scarcity (artificial or otherwise) of healthcare resources. And the monopolies granted to medical device and drug makers through the patent system keep prices high so the patentees can recoup their investments. There is no easy way to solve this problem, despite breathless claims to the contrary that have been plaguing our airwaves since the 1980s.

cfraenkel 2y ago
Sure there is. It's called single payer. There's no way to fix this with the current layers of middlemen milking profits from what should be a public utility.
- otterley 2y ago
  I meant to say there’s no market-based solution to the problem. That said, single payer has problems, too, which is why few countries use it in its purest form. Everyone gets a “floor” of coverage, which is a good thing, but people also hate waiting long periods for treatments and the inability to choose a specific care provider. Britons love NHS, but they hate it, too.
  - brightball 2y ago
    There’s absolutely a market based solution. You can’t go single payer in the US without actually destroying the entire insurance industry overnight and because of that, there’s no way to transition to it smoothly. The HSA plan does both.
    - otterley 2y ago
      In which country with more than 10 million people have you seen a market-based solution result in high patient satisfaction, low costs, and top-tier treatment outcomes? Not just in theory, but in reality.
brightball 2y ago
All of those prices exist from negotiations between the insurance companies and not the free market. Mark Cuban’s cost plus drugs is proving this in pharma right now.

cfraenkel 2y ago

Sure there is. It's called single payer. There's no way to fix this with the current layers of middlemen milking profits from what should be a public utility.

otterley 2y ago
I meant to say there’s no market-based solution to the problem. That said, single payer has problems, too, which is why few countries use it in its purest form. Everyone gets a “floor” of coverage, which is a good thing, but people also hate waiting long periods for treatments and the inability to choose a specific care provider. Britons love NHS, but they hate it, too.
- brightball 2y ago
  There’s absolutely a market based solution. You can’t go single payer in the US without actually destroying the entire insurance industry overnight and because of that, there’s no way to transition to it smoothly. The HSA plan does both.
  - otterley 2y ago
    In which country with more than 10 million people have you seen a market-based solution result in high patient satisfaction, low costs, and top-tier treatment outcomes? Not just in theory, but in reality.

brightball 2y ago

All of those prices exist from negotiations between the insurance companies and not the free market. Mark Cuban’s cost plus drugs is proving this in pharma right now.