Supply and Demand. Ever heard of it? Markets shift overnight. Before it’s stated, quality and quantity works itself out in a free market. It’s cheaper to do a task correctly the first time.
Supply and demand only drive prices when you're dealing with a product or service where buyers interact directly with sellers. That's not the case in insured medical care, where every transaction has THREE parties:
- the patient (who functions as the buyer but doesn't have any incentive to minimize costs because he doesn't actually pay directly for the service he receives)
- the insurance company (which also functions as the buyer but doesn't have any incentive to maximize quality because they aren't the ones who have to live with the aftermath of a medical procedure)
- the doctor (who functions as the seller but deals with two different "buyers" -- one of them who doesn't care about the price and the other who doesn't care about the quality)