Hospitals are a monopoly too, when you have an emergency and need care now, you can't compare prices or get quotes for the care, as you don't know even what you will need

This is not well-known but the vast majority of hospital visits are non-emergency.

People used to have choice but now due to 1950s tax code, your employer chooses a health conglomerate which chooses an insurance company which influences the billing allowances which influences the hospital profitability which is now so complicated that often only PE firms are willing to take the investment risk.

The incentives and market feedback is now so distorted that there is little to no signal. Healthcare in the US is often used as an example of failed free markets, but it is very far from a free market.

It's still one of the most deregulated, most bloated and inefficient systems in the whole world, delivering the worst health outcomes across the G7-States. Everywhere else in the world tight-controlled and regulated Healthcaresystems deliver far better quality. It's one of the cases where you need a regulated market, not a free one

Does it actually provide worse health outcomes?

American lifestyles especially in certain states are generally not conducive to good outcomes but the US healthcare system itself is still generally world-renowned for cutting edge procedures.

Analyzing from a cost POV it's quite bad, but in many ways healthcare is the ultimate marginal good so people are willing to spend what they have.

On a population level it does. Higher children mortality than most developing countries and worst life expectancy in G7 can't only be contributed to bad lifestyle. It's also a huge part of not being able to access care, and that's not the cutting edge care, it's cheap basic care

I sometimes think the "anti-government run anything" mantra is just people who are easily swayed by propaganda reciting a line. It's easy to take singular examples of government failure and write articles claiming that everything must be owned by private equity because government is dysfunctional.

But do you know what? I used to pay 1/4 the price for electricity when i lived in an area with a local county run power company compared to my new nearby location that has PG&E as the only option. As in government run utilities were literally 1/4 the price per kwh and yet i'm supposed to buy into this "GOVERNMENT IS INEFFICIENT LOL COMMUNISM" propaganda that just doesn't appear true in the slightest. I mean this is consistent across the board.

I know the baby boomer generation were vulnerable to this anti-socialism propaganda but can we please start looking at things objectively and push back against this privatization that is almost always a way for politicians to enrich themselves. Sigh.

My township recently sold my local sewer line to a private company, after privatizing my water line to the same company. Interestingly, there was a major scandal a few years ago where the private company had allowed grey water to mix with the fresh water running to everybody's tap, and a few people got sick. There seemed to be a major public outcry but the company did not pay a price for the error, and were rewarded with the sewer business. As someone who maintains a SaaS business, this seemed unforgivable to me, the equivalent of my company failing in their one job, to keep the servers online. At the same time, my water bill has just about doubled, and my sewer bill has now gone to be around three times. I now pay 4.5 times what I did at my old residence with public utilities, for the exact same service. Is everybody on the take?

The government is less efficient at serving its stake holders than for-profit corporations.

The government creates the conditions for PGE to be so bad. I’m defecting from the grid this year, PGE’s high prices mean my s system will pay for itself in less than a year and will likely be more reliable.

battery and solar companies saved me from PGE and they can save you. The government perhaps can but likely won’t. Extrapolate for yourself what this means about the world and what organizations should command the most resources.

The government told PG&E not to fix its broken ass infrastructure and cause a catastrophic fire? I think if you examine the historical record, you will find that the opposite occurred. The government told PG&E not to have 100-year-old infrastructure in fire prone areas, and PG&E decided to send dividends to its hedge fund owners instead of doing so.

Seems a bit passive no? The government has a job, but your way of handling it is the opposite of holding it accountable. Government is made of people and they will be as inefficient as allowed to be.

I think the anti-government everything must be privatized thing is pushed because it's an opportunity to divert large flows of money into wealthy peoples pockets. The head of a publicly run company might make as much as a sr tech bro. The head of a privatized one can divert tens of millions a year.

Same as attempts to privatize social security. You got a cash flow of $1.4T/year and it drives the lords of capital bonkers they can't get their hands on it.

Game show idea: Is it a malfunctioning market, or just regulatory capture?

Seems it’s the perfect target for investors. Competition is for suckers.

Oh, but it does help. Just not the general population.