Six Reasons Price Transparency Won't Fix Healthcare

American Thinker ^ | 06/27/2023 | Deane Waldman, M.D.

[SeekAndFind]

Washington's latest solution to the high cost of health care is to mandate price transparency, at present for institutions like hospitals and outpatient facilities, but eventually for everyone — even solo practitioners (if any still exist).  Advocates claim that since price transparency works to drive down prices for other commercial activities such as buying a car, it will bring down the unaffordable expense of health (medical) care. 

Price transparency won't work, for six compelling reasons. 

First, there is healthcare (one word) versus health...care (two words).  The former is a massive, Byzantine system consuming 18.3 percent of U.S. GDP.  Health (medical) care is a personal, legally protected, highly confidential fiduciary service relationship between one patient and one provider.  The regulatory solution — to require price transparency — completely ignores the high cost of healthcare, the system, which accounts for nearly half of all U.S. "healthcare" spending.  In fact, additional regulation will increase spending and consume more "healthcare" dollars.

Second, healthcare is not a true (free) market; it is a distorted or centrally controlled market.  Third parties — government and/or insurance companies, not buyers (patients) or sellers (providers) — decide how much to expend, how much will be paid, to whom, when, and even if there will be payment.  Healthcare is effectively a monopsony, a market with one buyer, the third party.  Economists know that a monopsony can totally control a market: both price (payment) and demand — i.e., benefits. 

[grey_whiskers]

Preferring to subsidize govt. apparatchiks such as yourself over private citizens, I see.

[Jan_Sobieski]

Government socialized healthcare gives government a perverse incentive to ensure we don’t live to require Government Socialized Healthcare. Vaccines are a government solution to the problem.