mame
Well-Known Member
sup guys!
The problem with the health care industry and allowing the invisible hand of the market to control costs is that people dont give a shit how much their healthcare costs. Not only that, but most people have no idea what a fair price would be even if they did care. Meanwhile, insurance companies only focus on minimizing costs to them and doctors to some extent are focused on increasing costs to benefit their hospital or practice. The problem, put simply, is that the invisible hand of the market doesn't work in every case. This is one of them. Healthcare as an industry lacks real competition in a market environment. There is not a single example of a working healthcare market devoid of government intervention in the world. Meanwhile, programs like those found in the Eurozone and even in the US (Medicare) are achieving higher quality of care at a lower cost overall with few(read:less) downsides as compared to more market-oriented approaches(like the US system prior to Obamacare).
Single payer systems give all the leverage to a single party (a government entity) and said party uses that leverage to control costs. Socialism? I guess. But the markets are NOT perfect, which is why there is an entity in place set to intervene in the first place(you know... for the people, by the people?)... One can argue that the US government may be inherently corrupt and broadly incapable, and that'd be a legit argument in most people's minds... But most consumers lack the needed knowledge to make informed, economically efficient choices within the healthcare industry and because of that, market based solutions are largely inneffective. Obamacare does an OK job I guess, by setting up exchanges so that each individual consumer can compare and contrast healthcare plans as well as costs and that's at least an honest attempt at setting consumers up to make informed decisions - but as of now, single payer systems have shown to be the most effective delivery/cost control method for healthcare and the offered alternative (repealling Obamacare and relying on the private sector to deliver care) is a step backwards. So...
The problem with the health care industry and allowing the invisible hand of the market to control costs is that people dont give a shit how much their healthcare costs. Not only that, but most people have no idea what a fair price would be even if they did care. Meanwhile, insurance companies only focus on minimizing costs to them and doctors to some extent are focused on increasing costs to benefit their hospital or practice. The problem, put simply, is that the invisible hand of the market doesn't work in every case. This is one of them. Healthcare as an industry lacks real competition in a market environment. There is not a single example of a working healthcare market devoid of government intervention in the world. Meanwhile, programs like those found in the Eurozone and even in the US (Medicare) are achieving higher quality of care at a lower cost overall with few(read:less) downsides as compared to more market-oriented approaches(like the US system prior to Obamacare).
Single payer systems give all the leverage to a single party (a government entity) and said party uses that leverage to control costs. Socialism? I guess. But the markets are NOT perfect, which is why there is an entity in place set to intervene in the first place(you know... for the people, by the people?)... One can argue that the US government may be inherently corrupt and broadly incapable, and that'd be a legit argument in most people's minds... But most consumers lack the needed knowledge to make informed, economically efficient choices within the healthcare industry and because of that, market based solutions are largely inneffective. Obamacare does an OK job I guess, by setting up exchanges so that each individual consumer can compare and contrast healthcare plans as well as costs and that's at least an honest attempt at setting consumers up to make informed decisions - but as of now, single payer systems have shown to be the most effective delivery/cost control method for healthcare and the offered alternative (repealling Obamacare and relying on the private sector to deliver care) is a step backwards. So...