Health Care has faded a bit from the immediate set of Things the GOP Are Doing That Are Going To Hurt A Lot of People (in favor of some other things), but it’s worth bookmarking this particular thought.
The conservative health care counter-reformer insists that the Free Market is the only way to go. “Only when insurance carriers and medical providers are utterly unfettered, unregulated, unmonitored, free to price themselves however they see fit will Americans get the health care they truly need.”
I will assume, for sake of argument, that this is a legitimately believed thing, not a rhetorical device to justify greed and rapine.
The problem is that this argument is demonstrably false. It might be true for, say, hammers. Or pea gravel. Or tea candles. People can buy these things, if they need them, if the price is what they want to pay for them, is the reputation of the seller is suitable, if the distribution model is free to adjust to demand and supply — that all works for basic, simple, commodities.
But it utterly fails for medical care. Because a lot of people who need medical care need it right freaking now or else they may die.
When you are sick, injured, suffering an acute condition or even realizing that you have a chronic condition that needs treatment, your demand is high. You may not have the time to review the best providers, the optimal cost and payment arrangements, the longer-term consequences of particular choices, or the figuring out how to make the short-term arrangements to get the treatment that is needed.
Whether it’s a heart attack or the flu, the demand is inflexible, and the ability to rationally decide upon options is limited.
A system designed for intelligent and empowered consumers who can “take it or leave it” around the transaction will fail miserably applied to health care. Because when you are sick you need and want treatment right now. It’s not like a car purchase, where you can say, “Hmmm, that seems pricey; if they can’t drop their price, I guess I’ll walk away and keep driving my old clunker.” Sick people don’t have that option.
Remember that when someone next suggests deregulating the medical care and insurance industry. Health care and the free market mix very, very poorly.
Death is simply a market outcome. The market doesn't care if you die.
And even when you are well insured: medium.com