Re:It’s time for a new, progressive supply-side economics
by repsilat on Tuesday February 02, 2021 @02:03PM
(#26005099)
> Intrinsic inequality of bargaining power
This point is usually brought up in regards to healthcare emergencies. But emergencies only make up a small fraction of healthcare spending[1].
Maybe people have less bargaining power because of agreements with providers/insurers. That's a barrier to an effective market with price sensitivity, but it's a contingent one, not a mathematically inevitable one. For much of our healthcare spending the balance of bargaining power could look like it does for food.
1: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/oct/28/nick-gille...
The US has a market for private healthcare, but healthcare will never be a free market. It's the antithesis of a free market. Intrinsic inequality of bargaining power and information asymmetry are the biggest reasons for this.