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> true market price There can be no market clearing price, because healthcare demand is unlimited. In some countries supply is rationed by using different mea
by robocat 11mo ago
> true market price
There can be no market clearing price, because healthcare demand is unlimited.
In some countries supply is rationed by using different means such as waiting lists, budgets for funding, or even corruption (I witnessed this in Cuba).
- mritterhoff 11mo ago> because healthcare demand is unlimited. How's that? Beyond some level of care I suspect demand drops of a cliff. No one goes to the doctor for the fun of it.
- atmavatar 11mo agoI'm sure they're talking about necessary healthcare - e.g., cancer drugs, insulin, dialysis, heart surgery, etc. When giving the option of parting ways with some more money or dying, virtually no one is going to choose the latter. Unfortunately, the US healthcare system is set up to extract maximum capital from people who interact with it. Worse: it's not alone. For example, the reason food in the US has so much sugar, salt, and fat in it is that the food industry has carefully engineered processed foods to be more addictive so people will buy more of it. We live in one of the most exploitative societies in the world, and it's only getting worse over time.
- loeg 11mo ago> No one goes to the doctor for the fun of it. "Fun" isn't the right word, but ~hypochondriacs will get unnecessary care if they perceive it to be free. This adds cost to the system without improving outcomes.
- nradov 11mo agoYes, and there is also an enormous amount of low-value or unnecessary care delivered which also doesn't improve outcomes (or even makes them worse). Depending on which estimate you believe this might be a quarter of all healthcare spending.
- robocat 11mo agoBetter answer (and child comment too): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115687