A minor piece of anacdata, I had an MRI. Paid for it out of pocket because I can. Private company provided it. $200. Done. Don’t have cancer and I do have a DVD of my brain that I will never watch because I’m squeamish. The private market can bring down prices if given a chance. Yes we need to fix things, but look at the US track record on the VA.
I assume this was a researched and planned procedure on your part?
I am a much bigger believer in "the market" than most people. But the problem with the medical industry is that many / most things happen under serious time pressure.
The seriousness and imediatness of medical procedures means that competition and choice often do not get to play a role in your decision making. For many people in many circumstances, the MRI machine nearest them has a complete monopoly.
How do we bring the miraculous efficiency of the market to an industry where people often cannot make consenting and informed decisions? Its a very hard problem to solve.
That is true. However urgent care is a small fraction of the US procedures. Cancer treatments, heart operations, etc are most often planned care. They also care touted as likely to bankrupt you. Can we try to optimize the majority of our system first before we rebuild it because of painful corner cases?
