Market system does not work for medical care

Some things are hard to understand.

Just about every developed nation, except the United States, has a government managed health/medical system. In these countries, the average per capita cost of medical care is approximately 60 to 70 percent of the per capita medical cost in the United States. The average person’s life span is one to three years longer, the doctors are trained at many of the same universities as American doctors, and the length of time it takes to get a doctor’s appointment is about the average time required in the United States. In most cases, patients select the doctors of their choice just like in the U.S.

Yet our legislators continue to insist that we pay more for less. It appears they firmly believe in a market-based medical system. By now they should have learned that when it comes to comprehensive medical care, the market system does not work.

Why do they keep believing that a young, healthy person will buy insurance when that person thinks he or she is invincible? And why would an insurance company provide coverage to a person who waited until he or she was in medical need before he or she decided to get medical insurance?

The laws of supply and demand that govern a market-oriented system do not work when it comes to providing a nation’s population with appropriate medical coverage.

Adam Smith, the father of supply and demand economics must be turning over in his grave at the lack of basic economic knowledge.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Market system does not work for medical care."