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As you may know, the costs of healthcare are going up faster than GDP. Healthcare in the US is getting rather expensive these days.
Supporters of universal healthcare typically say that since healthcare is a basic necessity, prices do not affect demand because without it, people will die. The economic term for how much demand changes relative to price is price elasticity. To their credit, healthcare is an inelastic good (demand changes more slowly than price), but on the other hand, it isn't the only one.
Other examples of inelastic goods are gasoline, clothing, recreational drugs (including tobacco), and to some extent, food and water. And yet, we don't see companies price gouge on gasoline, clothing, food, or water. Now maybe one could make the case that water utilities are heavily regulated or are owned by municipal governments and most recreational drugs are illegal but what about the others?
Although the cost of food has gone up in the last generation or so, it didn't do so by nearly as much as healthcare. When food (or drinks) get close to expiration date, they go on sale. In fact, sometimes when they're not close to expiration date, they go on sale. Clothing likewise is not being price gouged.
but drug approval is necessary, and arguably too easy as is. It's simply too easy for manufacturers to get drugs that are dangerous and/or unhelpful approved (e.g. SSRIs).
The best solution for high medical costs would likely be direct limits on drug prices.
The problem with this view is the seen and the unseen. You see the damage that faulty drugs which do go through cause but you don't see the help that drugs which didn't make it through would have done.
Perhaps a better solution would be to make drug approval optional but to require the label "not approved by the FDA" for any drugs which are not approved.
As you may know, the costs of healthcare are going up faster than GDP. Healthcare in the US is getting rather expensive these days.
Supporters of universal healthcare typically say that since healthcare is a basic necessity, prices do not affect demand because without it, people will die. The economic term for how much demand changes relative to price is price elasticity. To their credit, healthcare is an inelastic good (demand changes more slowly than price), but on the other hand, it isn't the only one.
Other examples of inelastic goods are gasoline, clothing, recreational drugs (including tobacco), and to some extent, food and water. And yet, we don't see companies price gouge on gasoline, clothing, food, or water. Now maybe one could make the case that water utilities are heavily regulated or are owned by municipal governments and most recreational drugs are illegal but what about the others?
Although the cost of food has gone up in the last generation or so, it didn't do so by nearly as much as healthcare. When food (or drinks) get close to expiration date, they go on sale. In fact, sometimes when they're not close to expiration date, they go on sale. Clothing likewise is not being price gouged.
Oil is considered an inelastic good because it's necessary to power our cars. Sure, electric cars exist, but the market is only in its infancy. But despite the importance of oil, prices aren't constantly on the rise, even with growing demand. Rather, they fluctuate, even though most oil reserves are in OPEC countries.
So why don't the markets of other inelastic markets see a great amount of price gouging? The answer is competition. If Safeway charges too much for groceries, shoppers will simply look elsewhere. If one gas station charges too much for gasoline, people will go to other gas stations. The markets for clothing likewise don't price gouge because there is competition. Thes markets are inelastic, if the price rises by a lot, there will still be a great deal of demand for them. An inelastic market will be able to maintain fairly small prices so long as there is competition. Thus it is worth asking why we don't see the same in healthcare.
It would perhaps be fallacious to say that healthcare in the US is expensive purely because of the free market because it is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the US economy.
If this Forbes article is to be trusted, the US government is limiting the number of physicians per year, causing a shortage and thus raising the cost of medical care due to lobbying on the part of the AMA. The government has also restricted the establishment of medical schools. Foreign doctors have to redo their residencies, regardless of how long they have been practicing, to legally practice in the US.
The Evil-Mongering Of The American Medical Association
Another problem is prescription drug medication. Thanks to patents, prescription drug companies have the license to price gouge their consumers without fear of competition. Some argue that the patent system guerantees that drug manufacturers will make a profit after developing the drug. The problem with this notion is that the big prescription drug companies spend more money on marketing than on R&D.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rketing-than-research/?utm_term=.be4ebaf0521a
Which brings me onto my next point. The FDA puts a long and burdensome process on getting drugs approved. While it may be with best of intentions, it has effectively prevented many would be useful drugs from coming onto the market. Big pharmaceutical companies have little trouble complying with these regulations but smaller companies are effectively crowded out.
The median four-year cost of medical school (including expenses and books) was $278,455 for private schools, and $207,866 for public schools in 2013 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
It would perhaps be fallacious to say that healthcare in the US is expensive purely because of the free market because it is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the US economy.
I don't have an opinion on admission rates for medical schools, .
We have so many states with different regulations and healthcare providers negotiating with insurance companies with complex policies that creates a lot of red tape and results in 25% of healthcare costs going to administrative cost. We do have many problems created by the government but the private market creates problems too and just isn't able to limit prices.
The cost issue with healthcare lies solely in the fact that it is a for profit system, along with the pharmaceutical companies and our insurance companies.
Because they know they're going to get their money, healthcare and pharma can price gouge like crazy, and they do, and insurance companies are such a racket that they still make out with yearly record profits even when paying out the exorbitant costs of the things they pay for.
also, if you think oil prices aren't gouged, you're being silly.
The cost issue with healthcare lies solely in the fact that it is a for profit system, along with the pharmaceutical companies and our insurance companies.
Because they know they're going to get their money, healthcare and pharma can price gouge like crazy, and they do, and insurance companies are such a racket that they still make out with yearly record profits even when paying out the exorbitant costs of the things they pay for.
also, if you think oil prices aren't gouged, you're being silly.
Were prices regulated, GPs would not be making $200K a year.
The median four-year cost of medical school (including expenses and books) was $278,455 for private schools, and $207,866 for public schools in 2013 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The cost issue with healthcare lies solely in the fact that it is a for profit system, along with the pharmaceutical companies and our insurance companies.
Because they know they're going to get their money, healthcare and pharma can price gouge like crazy, and they do, and insurance companies are such a racket that they still make out with yearly record profits even when paying out the exorbitant costs of the things they pay for.
also, if you think oil prices aren't gouged, you're being silly.
It turned out that Obamacare was not cheaper by several thousand dollars on average, but more expensive by several thousand dollars on average. Tens of millions of Americans were misled into thinking Obamacare would be cheaper and then were calmed down after experiencing sticker shock themselves when they had to buy the healthtax plan. Leftist propagandists continued to insist the subjected buyers were better off in spite of the fact they could see they were paying much more for insurance than they had been before.
It turned out that Obamacare was not cheaper by several thousand dollars on average, but more expensive by several thousand dollars on average. Tens of millions of Americans were misled into thinking Obamacare would be cheaper and then were calmed down after experiencing sticker shock themselves when they had to buy the healthtax plan. Leftist propagandists continued to insist the subjected buyers were better off in spite of the fact they could see they were paying much more for insurance than they had been before.
(NB: It is even likely to be more expensive seven years later!)The median four-year cost of medical school (including expenses and books) was $278,455 for private schools, and $207,866 for public schools in 2013 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Because America is the land of the greed. Everything is about sucking every last penny out of people
Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist economy.
The protocols and norms used to accomplish this involve a commitment to (1) representative and participatory democracy, (2) measures for income redistribution and (3) regulation of the economy in the general interest as well as welfare-state provisions.
Why is American health care comparatively more expensive than other states?
1) Profit Taking. Greedy Shareholders and Underwriters demanding more Dividends on Shares and Investments leaving lpLess Capital for the Practice of Medicine.
2) Patent Law and Intellectual Property Law.
3) Bloated Private and Public Health Bureaucracies.
4) High Capital Costs of Medical and Management Infrastructure.
5) Oligopoly Market Structure which does not have to deal with either Domestic or Foreign Competition.
6) Artificially High Labour Costs.
7) An overly Litigious Society which drives up Insurance Costs for doctors and patients alike.
8) Differential Pricing for Medical Care, Medical Equipment and Medicine.
9) A lack of Preventative Medicine Programmes and an Over Reliance on Medication.
10) An Over Emphasis on Elaborate and very Expensive High-end Medicine combined with an Under Emphasis on Cheaper Low-end Medicine which is in far higher Demand.
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I don't have an opinion on admission rates for medical schools, but drug approval is necessary, and arguably too easy as is. It's simply too easy for manufacturers to get drugs that are dangerous and/or unhelpful approved (e.g. SSRIs).
The best solution for high medical costs would likely be direct limits on drug prices.
The Affordable Care Act isn't really a government healthcare system. It still relies on the private insurance market for most of the coverage, and yeah, it didn't really handle any of it well. The ACA was the Democrats take on the Republican healthcare bills they worked back in the 90s. It was stupid and pointless from the beginning, but it did actually increase the number of people covered and help people with pre-existing conditions who couldn't otherwise get coverage.
as long as you have the healthcare market being dominated by for-profit corporations, there will never be anything affordable about it. Statistically speaking, we're probably better with the ACA than we were without it, but it really shows how right-leaning the majority of the Democratic party is. no one who is a "leftist" is going to praise the ACA for doing anything other than marginally helping people get insured.
I don't have an opinion on admission rates for medical schools, but drug approval is necessary, and arguably too easy as is. It's simply too easy for manufacturers to get drugs that are dangerous and/or unhelpful approved (e.g. SSRIs).
The best solution for high medical costs would likely be direct limits on drug prices.
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