Why can't the market deliver healthcare at a low cost?

And here's a big point that the proponents of government healthcare are careful to avoid: How will "universal healthcare" or "single payer" address the root causes of disease and injury? Will government healthcare stop millions of Americans from eating poor diets? Will government healthcare get millions of Americans to get off their couches and exercise regularly? Will government healthcare stop millions of Americans from smoking and drinking themselves to death? How is it "compassionate" or fair to force responsible, healthy people to subsidize the healthcare costs of people whose poor health is a direct consequence of their own irresponsibility?

 

Which are all code for: we're too spoiled to accept nationalised healthcare.

 

Not so much spoiled as corrupted.

 

It isn't 'fair', and I won't argue that it is.

BUT, we don't subsidise adults .. we all pay the tax levy. Even those on welfare pay it (or rather, take a 'pay cut'). The only people genuinely subsidised are children, and that's just as it should be. Of course there are adults who claim nil income, but it's difficult to get away with that (even bank account interest is 'income') and so in reality few people do it.

 

I think it's yourselves that are the problem. To hear Americans talk about how they expect to be treated (like they're VIPs, visiting 5 star resorts, with a personal physician on call), it can't really be anything else.

 

Externalities would suggest under consumption of healthcare, such that a marginal subsidy is all that's required. That is of course of little merit. Free markets, given the twin asymmetric information problems of adverse selection and moral hazard, will lead to the ultimate rent seeking behaviour: profiteering in exchange for higher mortality and morbidity.

The use of economics by the free marketeers isn't up to scratch!

 

Sure, they sign an oath (no, maybe they don't). If they do sign an oath what specific behavior or action does the oath compel? Modern versions I've found online are vague and the original is substantially counter to current practice. If you sign an oath promising to do only good, then you have to define the meaning of "good", which is subject to endless variation.

 

Here is a comprehensive list of most the laws that have driven up the cost of healthcare. After words, there will be a link with the entire article which contains an analysis:

• In 1910, the physician oligopoly was started during the Republican administration of William Taft after the American Medical Association lobbied the states to strengthen the regulation of medical licensure and allow their state AMA offices to oversee the closure or merger of nearly half of medical schools and also the reduction of class sizes. The states have been subsidizing the education of the number of doctors recommended by the AMA.
• In 1925, prescription drug monopolies begun after the federal government led by Republican President Calvin Coolidge started allowing the patenting of drugs. (Drug monopolies have also been promoted by government research and development subsidies targeted to favored pharmaceutical companies.)
• In 1945, buyer monopolization begun after the McCarran-Ferguson Act led by the Roosevelt Administration exempted the business of medical insurance from most federal regulation, including antitrust laws. (States have also more recently contributed to the monopolization by requiring health care plans to meet standards for coverage.)
• In 1946, institutional provider monopolization begun after favored hospitals received federal subsidies (matching grants and loans) provided under the Hospital Survey and Construction Act passed during the Truman Administration. (States have also been exempting non-profit hospitals from antitrust laws.)
• In 1951, employers started to become the dominant third-party insurance buyer during the Truman Administration after the Internal Revenue Service declared group premiums tax-deductible.
• In 1965, nationalization was started with a government buyer monopoly after the Johnson Administration led passage of Medicare and Medicaid which provided health insurance for the elderly and poor, respectively.
• In 1972, institutional provider monopolization was strengthened after the Nixon Administration started restricting the supply of hospitals by requiring federal certificate-of-need for the construction of medical facilities.
• In 1974, buyer monopolization was strengthened during the Nixon Administration after the Employee Retirement Income Security Act exempted employee health benefit plans offered by large employers (e.g., HMOs) from state regulations and lawsuits (e.g., brought by people denied coverage).
• In 1984, prescription drug monopolies were strengthened during the Reagan Administration after the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act permitted the extension of patents beyond 20 years. (The government has also allowed pharmaceuticals companies to bribe physicians to prescribe more expensive drugs.)
• In 2003, prescription drug monopolies were strengthened during the Bush Administration after the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act provided subsidies to the elderly for drugs.
• In 2014, nationalization will be strengthened after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“Obamacare”) provided mandates, subsidies and insurance exchanges, and the expansion of Medicaid.

How Government Regulations Made Healthcare So Expensive

 

If you want to get technical, insurance is subsidization. Those who use their benefits are subsidized by those who do not. But I don’t think we should subsidize those who don’t pay for coverage unless they legit can’t afford to.

 

The bold...this this this, exactly.

 

I posted this Mises article earlier, also the first video in my post......, the Austrian economics video, on why US healthcare is so expensive, goes into extensive detail as to how government increased the price of healthcare.

 

Patriotic Democrat Harry S Truman offered universal health care back in the 1940s. His efforts were rejected by the pro death Republicans whose policies have killed hundreds of thousands of poor Americans. In 70+ years the deluded right wing Republicans have failed to come up with a "free market" plan that will bring the type of care we need in the USA. As I approach my 70s, I don't have another 70 years to wait for that type of coverage. I doubt others do as well.

 

When will the Republican created holocaust ever end?

 

Would you buy a house or a car not knowing the price???Yet we purchase healthcare with no idea what it will cost.Hospitals and doctors should be required to post their prices.

 

Yeah well, don't go to hospitals that don't post their prices.

I just don't understand you guys. I know you charge as much as the market can bear for your services, but when it comes to others, suddenly you hate the idea of making as much money as others can. If you guys want to all band together and tell healthcare workers they will just have to accept what you can afford, then great! Just leave the rest of us out of your crazy schemes.

You should see what my plumber charges!!! Jeez!

 

This is hardly even worth responding too. There is no comparison between something that has a high chance of killing you ie an injury and just "needing" to be somewhere. Not only do you have little choice in the matter you are actually being effectively forced to buy services from a particular caretaker. That you continue to use the word voluntary is not convincing, sorry.

 

Because health care is something we NEED, like food and power, so the customer base is locked in to a certain extent. I.E, there's no low cost health care because it can be provided at a high cost for great profit.

 

Dup

 

No, you don't need health care. You can die just like the rest of us.

That "I need!!!!" argument is BS. If you need, then bend over, grab your ankles, and prepare to pay as much as can be squeezed out of you. Either that, or do without. Your need doesn't outweigh freedom.

 

We get it Belch. You are consistent at least.

 

You owe me.

 

Only if you insist on insurance that covers day to day crap.
You only need catastrophic coverage.
Everyone paying out of pocket for day to day care equals fair market pricing. You cant charge what your customer can't afford.

 

We will soon join the rest of the civilized world and move to the proven superior system of single payer, which provides better care than we get, for a fraction of our cost

 

good ol' lefty predictions.

I honestly think you guys do this in an attempt to perform the jedi mind control technique on yourselves. Your predictions are always wrong, yet you continue to make them.

Is being wrong 100% of the time some kind of masochistic tendency?

 

No, they are not always wrong. Our current system of healthcare is unsustainable. We have mountains of data showing single payer systems are superior to ours.

You would know. I’ve yet to see you be correct on something.