08-03-2017, 07:00 PM
(08-02-2017, 07:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: To first part. I absolutely believe that free market competition forces competing companies to put out a quality product at an affordable price. If they don't, their company fails, and they go out of business. If companies A and B are both Federally licensed to sell health coverage in the US, and carry relatively similar products, and are both allowed to market the same population, the company with the better rate is going to win 10/10 times.
As to second part. I really don't care what works in the rest of the world. We don't live in the rest of the world, we live in the US. The US is unique. We have a government of the people, for the people, by the people. By and large, even our lower class citizens enjoy a more prosperous existence than the majority of the world. Why is the US so wealthy that even our poor have luxuries like cell phones, tattoos, tricked out cars? Because we are a Capitalist Economy, we make more money than we need...
Free market forces tend to raise prices in some sectors of the economy. Think of what happened when HMOs were privatized and competing to "put out a quality product." In point of fact, many companies do well precisely because they are able to sell products for far more than they are worth. That is the logic of branding. "Quality" becomes a matter of perception, and controlling perception is the goal of brand marketing (including political brands).
If Germans develop a protocol for treating liver cancer which has better results than current protocols used in the US, US doctors will not say "I don't care what works in the rest of the world . . . We live in the unique US." They will adopt the German protocols. If Japanese figure out a more efficient way to organize the manufacture of automobiles, US automobile manufacturers may say "Japan is not us"--until the lower price of Japanese automobiles prompts them to adopt the same innovation. Where competition does work, why stop it at the US border? I don't see why this would not apply to healthcare as well. If Germans can provide quality healthcare and access for half the price, we ought to ask why, and if what they are doing will work here. If Japanese can do MRIs for 125 dollars a pop, where hospitals aren't competing in a "free market," we ought to ask why they cost thousands in the US where hospitals do compete. And if reducing the role of the free market is required, why not consider that.
As far as our prosperous poor go--part of that prosperity is a result of entitlements. Without redistribution of wealth, which occurs outside the market, our poor are not much better off than India's.
By the way, cell phones and tattoos are not really "luxuries." They are ubiquitous in slums all over the world. Our poor have them--so do "their" poor.
(You are a moderator now, so you have to consider my posts from a non-partisan perspective lol!)
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