Examine the causes of escalating healthcare costs

July 11 10:00 2017 by ushadmin

We continue to talk about healthcare as if it were a commodity that that can be purchased in the same way as iodized salt, a flat screen TV or a used car. But healthcare essentially operates in a different type of market. As a consumer we decide whether we need salt, will replace the TV or purchase a used car. Once we make that decision we decide which we will buy and we make the payment from our own funds.

But healthcare does not fit that model. We decide when we need to see a doctor, then the doctor tells us what we need to buy (blood work, an MRI, a stay in a hospital), but then — if we have insurance – someone else pays for the cost.

Even if you ask, a physician who says you need an MRI of your head to determine if something is amiss in your skull, that physician cannot tell you what the cost of the procedure will be. If you actually have an MRI, you are very unlikely to be told prior to the procedure what the cost will be.

This is not the model for informed buying decisions. In healthcare all you get to do is determine if you will see someone (your primary care doctor) who will tell you what to buy (drugs, MRI, surgery), another person will provide that service to you (surgeon, radiologist, hospital, etc.), and a third party will make the payment (if you are fortunate enough to have health insurance)…