Free Market for US Healthcare?

Posted by davidmcnab 8 years, 2 months ago to Economics
2 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

People like myself living outside the USA are routinely shocked at the ridiculously high costs of healthcare.

Socialist-leaning folks point to this as "evidence" of the "evils of capitalism".

However, I'm suspecting more and more that high healthcare costs are not a result of capitalism, but a result of its lack.

India and China are busting at the seams with really top-grade doctors and nurses. 20+ years education and experience, any specialty you want, willing to relocate and work in the USA for a modest wage on an H1B visa for years on end, and then stay on a still-modest wage thereafter.

Meanwhile, I'm given to understanding that the 1910 Flexner Report, as well as tightening up scientific standards in doctor training, also carried an anti-free-market payload - a provision to dramatically reduce the number of doctors being trained.

I tender this hypothesis - If the anti-capitalist AMA lost its statutory powers, then the cost of healthcare, and the cost of insurance, would crash almost overnight, while resulting in better coverage and higher overall standards of care.


Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

  • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 8 years, 2 months ago
    We need to get away from the paradigm of the doctor with his black bag. We need to allow innovative ways of utilizing technology to care for people's health unencumbered by laws about "practicing medicine without a license".

    And, if you can't bear to get rid of the FDA, at least limit their charter to "safe" and let "effective" be up to the consumer to decide.
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by 8 years, 2 months ago
      Very insightful, William. Especially given that there are whole classes of therapy that people swear by for getting results, that pass unblinded studies, but fail heavily blinded studies.

      The FDA has been waging War On Placebo for decades. The word 'placebo' simply means that a treatment implicates mental and emotional awareness - bad for business since it's harder to mass-produce.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo