Chris Butler_

Healthcare Proposals Should Change Market Incentives

First of all, the comment above mine inaccurately credits Socrates with the quote "do no harm." It's almost universally believed to be from Hippocrates, hence the Hippocratic Oath from which it comes.

More on point, however, the author of this post makes the argument that the capitalist system doesn't work in healthcare because patients cannot internalize expenses. Why? We're told the reason is that patients simply don't have the money. Actually, that's wrong. We don't know if they have the money. The problem is they never pay what the doctor would charge and uninsured person. I don't care to shop cost/benefit on doctors because all I'm worried about (as an insured person) is benefit. Insurance will charge me the same whether I see Doctor Good or Doctor Bad. Cost of service is no longer relevant to me. Only cost of insurance.

As far as benefit is concerned, we're told here that even smart people can't figure out if outcomes were worth the cost. We will only know in "the aggregate." There are so many problems with that statement, I hardly know where to start. Suffice it to say that if I have cancer, I don't want my doctor concerning herself with whether a treatment is worth the cost in the aggregate. Let me worry about the cost. And at that particular time, I can assure you I'm not going to care much about "the aggregate."