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How is the US Healthcare system in anyway like a free market? It's by far the most heavily regulated industry, every aspect of it. I believe government pays ~ 1

How is the US Healthcare system in anyway like a free market? It's by far the most heavily regulated industry, every aspect of it. I believe government pays ~ 1/3rd of all healthcare costs. Free market healthcare is veterinary, plastic surgery, lasik or maybe even dentists. Those sectors haven't seen skyrocketing costs.

michaelochurch 14y ago
Corporate capitalism exists to provide the best of socialism and capitalism for the well-connected, entitled corporate elite and the worst of both systems for everyone else.
- Roboprog 14y ago
  Odd, I prefer the term "corporate communism" for monopoly/oligarchy: A central board plans some aspect of the economy, just like Soviet Russia, once you get to a monopoly, with similar efficiencies. Anyway, the US would probably benefit from a hybrid system: government provided baseline care with option to purchase private upgrades.
hamburglar 14y ago
You have apparently never been handed a $93k estimate for dental work, and are probably not aware that it is nearly impossible to find a dental plan that will pay for more than a couple thousand dollars of work (they all have caps that can easily be exceeded by getting work done on a single tooth).
- jpadkins 14y ago
  $93k dental work sounds like an outlier. In a free market, $93k dental work should be as rare Bentley's on the road. There are very few people who can afford $93k procedures, so dentists/doctors will have to figure out how to do the procedure for a lot less or deal with the fact that their target market will be extremely small.
  - hamburglar 14y ago
    Absolutely true that $93k is an outlier. $10-20k, however, is not, and is enough to constitute a genuine hardship for a lot of families.
    - hamburglar 14y ago
      Besides, isn't the entire purpose of insurance to smooth out the outliers? $500k cancer treatment is an outlier, too, which is why I have medical insurance that covers it.

michaelochurch 14y ago

Corporate capitalism exists to provide the best of socialism and capitalism for the well-connected, entitled corporate elite and the worst of both systems for everyone else.

Roboprog 14y ago
Odd, I prefer the term "corporate communism" for monopoly/oligarchy: A central board plans some aspect of the economy, just like Soviet Russia, once you get to a monopoly, with similar efficiencies. Anyway, the US would probably benefit from a hybrid system: government provided baseline care with option to purchase private upgrades.

hamburglar 14y ago

You have apparently never been handed a $93k estimate for dental work, and are probably not aware that it is nearly impossible to find a dental plan that will pay for more than a couple thousand dollars of work (they all have caps that can easily be exceeded by getting work done on a single tooth).

jpadkins 14y ago
$93k dental work sounds like an outlier. In a free market, $93k dental work should be as rare Bentley's on the road. There are very few people who can afford $93k procedures, so dentists/doctors will have to figure out how to do the procedure for a lot less or deal with the fact that their target market will be extremely small.
- hamburglar 14y ago
  Absolutely true that $93k is an outlier. $10-20k, however, is not, and is enough to constitute a genuine hardship for a lot of families.
  - hamburglar 14y ago
    Besides, isn't the entire purpose of insurance to smooth out the outliers? $500k cancer treatment is an outlier, too, which is why I have medical insurance that covers it.