Yes Virginia – America Does Have Free Market Medical Care

Yes Virginia – America Does Have Free Market Medical Care

What is the number one complaint amongst conservatives regarding healthcare? That it is completely void of the free market. Whether it is ObamaCare, or what we currently know of RyanCare, for all intents and purposes, the free market simply doesn’t exist.
Brent Smith
 
We on the right understand that free market forces like competition and innovation are the keystones to any successful industry – any mutually beneficial transaction. Insurance is no different.
 
Health Insurance, which, to reiterate for the thousandth time, is not healthcare, anymore than auto insurance equals car repair, etc. We would never think of attempting to use our auto insurance for a tire change or a new muffler. Yet we don’t think twice about using our health insurance when we see a doctor for the common cold.
 
And why? Simple, as we know. It’s called third party payer, or worse, single payer. As long as we perceive that someone, the insurance company or other tax payers, will pay for the visit, we don’t ask what the charges are before service is rendered. We don’t ask after the services are rendered, nor do most even care. It’s the antithesis of the free market.
 
When you seek to purchase new tires, you first shop around for the best deal. When you decide on where to bring your vehicle, you get a firm price for the tires, the mounting, balance, etc. For the most part, you know exactly what your outlay will be. This is the free market.
 
And this is what the traditional medical complex is lacking, either by force or by choice. Yet there is a segment of medicine which demonstrates the success of free market healthcare. These are elective procedures.
 
An elective medical procedure is something for which a person wants but doesn’t necessarily require. Things like Botox injections, laser eye surgery, nose jobs and a seemingly endless list of other “cosmetic” procedures. Most are performed by highly trained physicians/surgeons, and all are paid for by the customer. There is no single payer government bureaucrat involved, no insurance companies, nor miles of needless paperwork. Elective medicine is healthcare at its free-market finest.
 
Some would say, “Sure, but that stuff is only for the rich and famous. I could never afford to pay for frivolous things like that out of pocket.” Maybe for some procedures, but for others, you’d be wrong Daniel-son.
 
As the cost of traditional medical treatment has skyrocketed, elective procedures have risen at a fraction of the pace, and in a growing number of procedures, pricing has drastically decreased. And at the same time prices are lowering, innovation is flourishing.
 
Elective medicine is a very competitive industry. There’s that word – competition.
Elective medical practices must actually compete for customers. They are not just handed them by the government. Practitioners are always searching for ways to innovate and draw in new clientele. There’s that other word – innovation.
 
In 2015, Johns Hopkins did a study  of the cost of primary care physicians. They found that the cost of a single doctor visit, without insurance, could range from $160 to over $200.
 
Yet another study conducted by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) found that laser eye surgery can cost as little as $150 to $300. For about the cost of a lousy visit to the doctor, you can have your vision permanently corrected. IBD added  that the same eye procedure cost well over $2000 in 1998. Who’d a thunk it – a complex and highly innovative medical procedure reduced in price by a factor of 10. And that’s just one example. This is not supposed to happen.
 
But it is happening, due to the fact that elective medicine has been left relatively unscathed by government. It’s escaped the burdens of federal rules and regulations. The consumer has the freedom to shop around, to select any practitioner in the country and then to purchase only the procedure or product they choose.
 
Elective medical practices must also try harder than their traditional counterparts. They must constantly look for cutting edge technology to set themselves above others and increase the efficiency of procedures, which can drastically reduce the cost to the consumer – as in the eye surgery example.
 
The bottom line is that is does as it always does, come back to government meddling.
 
Unless enough people understand the concepts of the free market, there will never be enough pressure put on politicians, not to just change things, but to remove the government from the equation completely. 
Until that time, affordable health insurance and healthcare will remain a fantasy, no matter who is in charge.
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