Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by LifeLiverTransp 2622 days ago
Because its a scam to extract the maximum amount of wealth from people with no real choice options out. And the ilusion, that in this stick-up of scenarios, the individual is to be able to engage in a free-market decision.
1 comments

If you have some cold symptoms, you can't call around to find a doctor who will diagnose it for a reasonable price, because they won't give you one.

But that's not a stick up, it's a lack of price transparency. So how about we get a price transparency law?

The "stick up" scenario is limited to emergency care, and there is an argument that emergency services should be provided by the city for that reason. But most healthcare is not emergency services, nor would having your city do that require any kind of national policy -- you can go implement that right now.

It's the exact thing that works perfectly at the local level, because the stick up scenario itself is what prevents arbitrage. People in Houston can't vote to cut local emergency services and then go to the emergency room in Boston when they have a heart attack, because it's too far away.

Its more complex, to judge wether you are getting unnecessary procedures priced in, you would need to be a expert in the field. Its similar to enterprise software, where the customer often gets a "all-scenarios"included gigantic package - half of which he will never use.

Now add to that a field of experts, fused together by a lethal threat to their profession (lawsuits with expenses for life if you do damage) - forming a Wagonfort - and you get the perfect mess.