News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Health care is turning into a consumer product by bushbaba on Monday January 10, 2022 @01:25PM (#29879151)
The us healthcare system is not capitalistic. If I get my flu shot I have no idea how much it cost my insurance company. CVS, Walgreens, Safeway all the same to me for a flu shot.

If instead we use health insurance like home insurance for unforseen major issues, and had price transparency. Then prices would go down as people would shop around.

Re:Health care is turning into a consumer product by terr-dav on Monday January 10, 2022 @01:35PM (#29879311)
What you're describing is the lack of a normal market, and even that only applies if you have insurance. For the millions of people without insurance, they do indeed shop around. It is very much a capitalist system, since the ownership (& control) of the system is not in the hands of the workers - in insurance companies, hospitals, pharma, etc - but in the hands of wealthy shareholders.

To be fair, I suspect your definition of capitalism is very different from mine...

Re:Health care is turning into a consumer product by bushbaba on Monday January 10, 2022 @04:12PM (#29882585)
Those without insurance are quoted prices different than what insurance companies pay.

Even getting a price quote is often impossible.

Government should enforce the same pricing to all parties or allow everyone to get the same prices Medicare negotiated.