Strongly disagree with this comment. The most powerful monopoly one can hold is one entrenched by the will of the government. Every time the people have asked the government to step in and regulate healthcare, corporate lobbyists have crafted the laws in such a way to weigh down any potential competitors.
In the US, the more regulated a market is, the more likely people are to demand further regulation, because they incorrectly blame the free market when the market is anything but free.
The unnecessary deaths in US healthcare are largely attributable to waste and incentive mis-alignment; the person paying for healthcare isn't the one receiving it, so it is no wonder patients receive poor care.
> the person paying for healthcare isn't the one receiving it, so it is no wonder patients receive poor care.
This works fine in fields like the restaurant business or the haircutting business, where people can decide for themselves what they want to eat or how they want their hair, and they can decide for themselves whether their food or their haircut is satisfying.
The sector where it is least applicable is healthcare. You don't know what disease you've got, you don't know what can be done, and you don't know what the incentives of the people who do know are. This makes it hard to take advantage of the feedback loop from the other industries mentioned.
I don't completely disagree, but that's the edge cases of mystery diseases or rare cancers that make for good headlines.
The vast majority of healthcare is basic screenings (physicals, x-rays, bloodwork) and chronic disease management (birth control, blood pressure). These services are more or less understood and interchangeable, and absolutely can compete on service, quality, and price.
In the US, the more regulated a market is, the more likely people are to demand further regulation, because they incorrectly blame the free market when the market is anything but free.
The unnecessary deaths in US healthcare are largely attributable to waste and incentive mis-alignment; the person paying for healthcare isn't the one receiving it, so it is no wonder patients receive poor care.