A day passed before I realized there had been no competition.
Had a wonderful little visit to the hospital Monday. Then, today, as I reflected on how expensive it had been, as I wondered for the umpteenth time in my life on how medical bills need to be brought down, it occurred to me --
There had been no competition.
It was marvelous when I checked in, that I was showed an itemized bill explaining what I would be paying for. Ahh, but here's the catch, and this dawned on me a full day later: I could not pick up the cost quote, take it next door, and say, "Here's what Jordan Valley wants to charge me. Can you do better?"
That would be competition.
This was not. I could take what they offered, or go home hungry. Take it or leave it. I had a choice of one. I was buying in a "free market" of one. Competitors for my business? Just the one. Sellers to choose from? Just one.
Just one is not a choice. It's a monopoly. Just one is not a free market. Just one is a way to drive up prices. However, in America -- the world leader in free enterprise and capitalism -- did we ever arrive at this: no competition?
You want to know why health-care costs are so outrageous? Look no further. While some clamor for national health care while crying that the free-enterprise system has failed us, while some are suggesting a one-payer system, let it not go unnoticed that we've already abandoned the free market.
Why, after getting the quote yesterday, shouldn't I have been able to drive down the street to another hospital, shown them the quote I had received, and asked them if they wanted to do me better?
You might be ready to remind me doctors often do give their patients the choice of which hospital they want procedures done at. In my case, I said Intermountain Medical Center, and still received Jordan Valley. The point is, though, when the question was asked, I was not given a price quote that I could take and shop around. That didn't come until I was already at Jordan Valley, checking in.
Now, mind you, it was a procedure that could be done by one doctor as easily as another. You might say, "But Dr. Neveratemperature is your cardiologist, so he must do the angiogram." But, fact is, Dr. Hasnofever (forgive the false names), could do it just as well. The procedure is all the same, regardless who does it. Fact is, Dr. Neveratemperature wasn't available, so Dr. Hasnofever stepped in on less than a day's notice. (Well, he had from Friday afternoon until Monday about noon, but I doubt he was in the office during the weekend.)
Tell me why is it that at the point of sale, the point at which we learn the cost, we are already committed to which hospital we will use? Why do they reduce our choices to a choice of one? I mean, that is the way our system is set up. Why?
Seems that if we really wanted to reduce the cost of health care, instead of coming along with a 2,309-page bill of Obamacare confusion, we'd do better with a once-sentence declaration of independence-type bill: "We, the People, shall have the right to price quotes and shall be given the liberty to take these quotes from one hospital to another until We, the People, select the provider of our choice."
Freedom is choice, and we are being given no choice. To the walls, fellow Americans. Let's scale these prison walls and get out of here!
Don't get me started on the insurance, we could be here all night. There are probably many reasons why, health care costs are outrageous. One reason, I believe is the high cost of med school. For most med students taking student loans is like taking out a mortgage.
ReplyDeleteI second that. The high cost of medical school drives up the cost of health care and the length of time it takes to get out of med school limits how many become doctors. . . . And, that means higher prices as fewer doctors means less competition. Good training is essential, though.
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