[From a comment that got too long.]
A common objection to eliminating state restrictions on healthcare is that "unconscious patients have no ability to negotiate/shop around".
But that only applies to a small amount of healthcare spending.
For most medical procedures, patients have plenty of time to shop and price compare--emergency medicine only constitutes 2-3% of healthcare spending.
Even that remaining 2-3% can be eliminated by hiring an organization to pre-negotiate for you. As John Cochrane points out, "When your car breaks down at the side of the road, you’re in a poor position to negotiate with the tow-truck driver. That is why you join AAA."
https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2017/07/free-market-health-care.html
European socialist healthcare systems "solve" the problem of parasitic healthcare providers by putting most healthcare decision making under the control of a single government bureaucracy. And being subject to a single bureaucracy might well be less costly and more efficient than the multiple parasites that the US healthcare system endures.
But then you must still endure the problems that all government monopolies suffer from: wastefulness, inflexibility, bureaucracy, shortages, poor service, lack of innovation, long wait times, etc
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/17/nhs-staff-quit-record-numbers-work-life-balance
https://www.medrepublic.com/blog/travel/long-wait-times-canada/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-03/frances-health-care-system-is-going-broke
The best solution isn't to switch from the broken socialist US system to a perhaps slightly less broken socialist European system. The solution is to eliminate the parasitic socialist elements altogether.
Without the rentseeking / paternalistic regulations imposed by the medical cartels/FDA, you'd be able to buy medications 24 hours a day from vending machines outside every grocery store, or via mail order from anywhere in the world.
Without certificate of need laws (which give existing hospitals the power to veto construction of new hospitals), companies like Surgery Center of Oklahoma would find it easier to expand. (Surgery Centery of Oklahoma offers low cost orthopedic surgery with transparent pricing.)
Without medical licensure laws strictly limiting new entrants into the medical job market, there would be a lot more providers offering low cost care.
Without patents, companies would not be able to charge monopolistic prices on new drugs.
#healthcare
A common objection to eliminating state restrictions on healthcare is that "unconscious patients have no ability to negotiate/shop around".
But that only applies to a small amount of healthcare spending.
For most medical procedures, patients have plenty of time to shop and price compare--emergency medicine only constitutes 2-3% of healthcare spending.
Even that remaining 2-3% can be eliminated by hiring an organization to pre-negotiate for you. As John Cochrane points out, "When your car breaks down at the side of the road, you’re in a poor position to negotiate with the tow-truck driver. That is why you join AAA."
https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2017/07/free-market-health-care.html
European socialist healthcare systems "solve" the problem of parasitic healthcare providers by putting most healthcare decision making under the control of a single government bureaucracy. And being subject to a single bureaucracy might well be less costly and more efficient than the multiple parasites that the US healthcare system endures.
But then you must still endure the problems that all government monopolies suffer from: wastefulness, inflexibility, bureaucracy, shortages, poor service, lack of innovation, long wait times, etc
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/17/nhs-staff-quit-record-numbers-work-life-balance
https://www.medrepublic.com/blog/travel/long-wait-times-canada/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-03/frances-health-care-system-is-going-broke
The best solution isn't to switch from the broken socialist US system to a perhaps slightly less broken socialist European system. The solution is to eliminate the parasitic socialist elements altogether.
Without the rentseeking / paternalistic regulations imposed by the medical cartels/FDA, you'd be able to buy medications 24 hours a day from vending machines outside every grocery store, or via mail order from anywhere in the world.
Without certificate of need laws (which give existing hospitals the power to veto construction of new hospitals), companies like Surgery Center of Oklahoma would find it easier to expand. (Surgery Centery of Oklahoma offers low cost orthopedic surgery with transparent pricing.)
Without medical licensure laws strictly limiting new entrants into the medical job market, there would be a lot more providers offering low cost care.
Without patents, companies would not be able to charge monopolistic prices on new drugs.
#healthcare