How can we have a competitive marketplace? I’m not a doctor (and therefore cannot informed evaluate the services) and even if I was I can’t search for my preferred cardiologist when I’m having a heart attack.
That’s a bad analogy. If my brakes fail, once I come to a stop there’s no urgency in getting them fixed. I can abandon the care if it’s a lemon. I can have it towed home. I can use Yelp to find a reasonable mechanic. I can rent another car until this one’s fixed. It’s the opposite of “every second counts”.
Meanwhile, this is the only heart I have, and if it’s in danger of stopping, I have approximately seconds to call 911 to get someone to come take me to the repair shop of their choosing.
I can call a cab or get a replacement car from my insurance to drive around in, and I understand my body a whole lot less than my car. Demand for a car mechanic is nowhere near as inelastic as most of healthcare, so I don’t think this analogy really fits. At most it suggests that private markets can handle ambulances as well as we handle roadside towing.
> can’t search for my preferred cardiologist when I’m having a heart attack.
You can't search for your preferred mechanics when your breaks failed on a highway.
Yet somehow that didn't kill the competitive marketplace.