{"id":135271,"date":"2017-11-03T00:26:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T06:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135271"},"modified":"2017-11-04T15:08:02","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T21:08:02","slug":"health-care-free-market-collide-unfortunate-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/03\/health-care-free-market-collide-unfortunate-results.html","title":{"rendered":"How Health Care and the Free Market collide, with unfortunate results"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

I will assume, for sake of argument, that this is a legitimately believed thing, not a rhetorical device to justify greed and rapine.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/i><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s a heart attack or the flu, the demand is inflexible, and the ability to rationally decide upon options is limited.<\/p>\n

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 <\/i>right now.<\/i><\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

Remember that when someone next suggests deregulating the medical care and insurance industry. Health care and the free market mix very, very poorly.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “How Health Care and the Free Market collide, with unfortunate results”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,134],"tags":[1309,1308],"class_list":["post-135271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-health-care","tag-freemarkets","tag-healthcarereform"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/dip_shopper_201711035B15D.pngimgmax=660.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133910,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/20\/on-the-barrier-to-universal-health-coverage-in-the-united-states.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":0},"title":"On the barrier to universal health coverage in the United States","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 20-Jul-17 7:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"The author notes that the Canadian model demonstrates that the US could ensure essential health care for all, but goes back to the bitter early days of political argument around the single-player plan (which originated in the province of Saskatchewan. The significant difference pointed out was that in the Canadian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/03\/the-ahca-affects-not-just-individual-buyers-but-employee-health-plans-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":1},"title":"The AHCA affects not just individual buyers, but employee health plans, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-May-17 2:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking at the currently proposed state \"opt out\" provisions in the Republican health insurance reform, the Brookings Institution finds that it not only impacts individual insurance purchasers, but could have a significant impact on employer-provided health insurance as well, as employers and\/or health insurance companies seize on the \"least common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135106,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/20\/bailout-not-bailout.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":2},"title":"When is a “bailout” not a bailout?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 20-Oct-17 8:23am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's demonstrable that arguing Donald Trump's policy proclamations are incoherent at best, dishonest at worse, is a futile gesture, as neither Trump nor his most rabid supporters care. But it's still worth noting, just for the record, that the whole \"Obamacare insurance company bailout\" argument both incoherent and dishonest, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Trump-pbtpbtpbtpbt.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131008,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/06\/because-big-health-care-needs-to-become-bigger-health-care.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":3},"title":"Because Big Health Care needs to become Bigger Health Care!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Jul-16 11:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The merger of Anthem and Cigna sounds like a positively awful thing to do -- except, perhaps, for executives and shareholders of both companies. And they're not the only large insurance company mergers under consideration. There's a Reason Someone Is Supposed to Keep an Eye on Massive Mergers Especially when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133778,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/02\/health-care-for-fun-and-profit-without-the-fun.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":4},"title":"Health Care for Fun and Profit (without the Fun)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 2-Jul-17 8:23am","format":false,"excerpt":"A fascinating look at the history of health insurance in the United States, focused on Blue Cross \/ Blue Shield, and how a variety of originally good intentions have metastasized into a for-profit behemoth that perpetually drives higher health care prices in order to get a cut of the pie.There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130248,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/19\/because-every-woman-can-get-good-reproductive-health-care-at-the-dentist.html","url_meta":{"origin":135271,"position":5},"title":"Because every woman can get good reproductive health care at the dentist","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 19-Mar-16 1:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As the state of Florida moves to defund Planned Parenthood of any money (by banning state assistance to any health care provider that also provides abortions), the politicians involved claim there are plenty of places where women can get low-cost reproductive and sexual health care other than at Planned Parenthood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135291,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135271\/revisions\/135291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}