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Re: Should health care be a commodity?

I don't believe health care can be a commodity, or effectively utilize market forces to determine costs, because people can not be objective about health care in the same way they might be objective about which car to buy or which brand of mac and cheese to purchase. The comparisons are too complex and require insider information, and the decisions are too emotional.

If you learned that Hospital B had a 5% higher survival rate for disease X but charged 30% more, would you go there? Would you choose that hospital for your child?

Market forces may be useful for pricing real estate, but I don't think they offer any efficiencies in the field of health care.

Julia in Waunakee