That only applies when people have spending money and liquidity to get treatment AT ALL. I do not have that, nor do any of my roommates, nor most of my friends. It is not a matter of prices being cheap. The only way I could afford my treatments are if MRI’s were $10 and drugs were $2 for a month’s supply. Anything more expensive and it adds up, because I’m on like 10 prescriptions.
I understand this, Pathia. You fall into the group of people who are unable to participate in the marketplace on their own.
The thing is, when the government and the insurance companies dominate the marketplace to set their own prices and dictate their terms to both providers and consumers, they end up inflating prices to the point that ordinary consumers cannot participate either, and ordinary providers cannot affort to sell their services at reasonable rates.
If the government and the juggernaut insurance providers get out of the healthcare market, then the providers and consumers will be able to work out more beneficial deals with one another directly, instead of having their terms dictated to them,
In this way, prices will come down, providers will be more free to negotiate on an individual basis, and many consumers who think the market is out of their reach will find that they are able to participate.
There will still be those who cannot participate due to insufficient resources- that is why we are called to be charitable toward those in need.
And I’m well aware of the way a market works, don’t try to tell me I don’t know, I have an economics degree. The market however doesn’t know to compensate and increase production of a thing when people aren’t even standing in line to purchase something (ie: go seek treatment). If people don’t even try to enter the market, the market does not have a way of knowing that the demand is that much higher and that it would be beneficial to ramp production to lower cost, if people don’t seek it, they aren’t counted.
Ok, so…you’re saying that you have to attempt to operate within the market in order to participate in the market…yep, I totally agree with you on that.
The thing is, the market wants to get everyone involved- because the market understands that everybody has something to trade. Let’s take transportation…this is why there are Lexus dealers, Hyundai dealers, and bus companies. People need transportation, and so the market provides it. People who make cars know that there are people who can afford a Lexus and there are those who can afford a Hyundai. And for those people who can afford neither, then there are bus companies who have them pay per ride, rather than buy a car. But what about those people who can’t even afford the bus? Many private charities provide bus vouchers and I hand dollars out all the time to pedestrians who ask for some help with bus fares.
So, the market provides to most, and charity helps the rest.
It works with food, transportation, and just about everything else in our society. It will work with healthcare.
The market only knows to increase supply when the supply becomes constrained. If it never becomes constrained because their customers balk at the price, it can’t make any adjustments.
Hmm, maybe I’m not clear on this…The market lowers the price to the point that the best balance is met between the profit per unit and the number of units sold. If customers won’t buy something, then the provider lowers the price until they do. Once this price is met, and the products start moving, then the market will increase supply to meet the demand. If this price can’t be met at a profitable level, then that product is either not desired by the marketplace, or it is too expensive for the marketplace- and in come the entrepreneurs to either find ways to lower the production cost of that product or find new ways to sell it. For example, cellular phones are much more expensive than people realize- I never would have paid the retail price for my cell phone ($400), but I would sign a contract with my cell provider so that they paid for my phone and I paid for their service. In this way, the phone maker found a way to sell their high price item by pairing it to another provider in the marketplace.
So…Not really sure of your point on this one.
In alot of ways, the way healtcare works keeps things stuck in the early adopter method of a product lifecycle.
True, because people always want the newest and best treatment. Similarly, Apple’s business model is weighted heavily on creating hype for early adopters.
Since insurance companies will pay the super high premium, then there’s no incentive to lower the cost because their only market is those who have insurance. Those who can’t afford it, can afford only so very little they have no interest in lowering the price to that level, because then the insurance companies would demand that price as well and destroy their profit flow.
Yes, this is my point exactly!!!
That’s right- insurance companies and the government work together to control the exchange of services, and in the process, they sacrifice either the consumer, the provider, or both.
I’m completely with you on this one.
Under the current system, many doctors have no control over what they charge because their rates are dictated to them by third party payers, and most consumers have no idea what they’re actually being charged because they just have their copay to take care of.
You are probably one of the few people who is actually aware of how inflated healthcare costs have actually become, and the cost is so staggering that you have come to believe that the only way to manage it is for the government to monopolize it.
Problem is, the solution can’t be found in the government or the insurance companies, because these two entities are exactly the reason why care has become so expensive.
The solution is to remove the government and the insurance companies from the market, and return control of the market back to the only two groups that have any business being there- the consumers and the providers.
