> less prone to "whatever price it is, I'll spend it".
not all medical needs are like that. Only in emergency care.
For things like a regular checkup, a flu shot, or obesity etc, you have time to shop around.
So not unlike the car services. Except that the provider of healthcare is paid highly, and has been limited in supply like the parent poster's comment.
Why are doctors cheaper in cuber? They cure the same diseases after all, and likely learn off the same knowledge.
You'd be surprised how much "emergency care" covers. A lot of people just end up going to the emergency room for colds, mild flu, persistent mild pains, etc.
When Jimbob goes to the emergency room at his local hospital because he has a cough that just will not go away, he's probably going to walk out of there with a script for some cough syrup or antibiotics and not a lung cancer diagnosis. Either way, he's there, it's made him miserable enough to get up and go somewhere, and he's very unlikely to want to leave without some sort of proposed solution to his problem. So he'll pay what the provider puts on the paper without shopping around.
Should he go to an urgent care center or make an appointment with a PCP? Absolutely. But he didn't. And there's millions of Jimbobs.
And that's before getting into the "frequent fliers" who are on the fringes of society and see a visit to the emergency room as a guaranteed way to experience at least some human compassion.
I don't understand this idea that there's no demand elasticity for healthcare.
If you need to go to a doctor you have choices. Most healthcare isn't emergency room visits. And the whole "health is priceless" is laughable considering obesity and smoking. You're paying money to be less healthy and now you tell me "for my health, whatever the price is I'll spend it".
> I don't understand this idea that there's no demand elasticity for healthcare.
There is demand elasticity, but health is weird.
Lots of people skip or avoid medical visits due to the cost. That’s demand elasticity.
For some things, that’s fine! A condition ends up going away in its own, or doesn’t go away but remains a minor annoyance that the person bears. Demand elasticity.
But for some conditions, that’s actually a much worse outcome. The condition worsens to the point where it becomes a major impact to someone and must be resolved (or they will die, be unable to work, etc). Often, these kinds of conditions are much much more expensive to treat when they are severe. Consider a bacterial infection. Discovered and treated early, it might be staved off with a cheap form of antibiotics. Left to fester, the treatment required might be much more costly: amputations, major surgeries, intensive care for a week, etc. In these cases, the “demand elasticity” didn’t work out. What appeared as elasticity actually ended up costing society much much more.
> You're paying money to be less healthy and now you tell me "for my health, whatever the price is I'll spend it".
Most people aren’t saying this about marginal medical care. Many many many people in the US regularly avoid interacting with the healthcare system due to the price.
This kind of saying applies to critical and life saving care. Like: “we’ve discovered you have cancer. We can manage it, and you have a 90% chance of survival, but the treatment will cost $500,000. Do you want that?”
You're ignoring the time element of healthcare. If you get hit by a bus, you aren't in a position to shop around or negotiate for care. You can even be incapacitated and unable to respond to questions before your treatment starts.
Imagine you get knocked out cold and wake up seated at a restaurant with an empty plate of food. You were fed the food but you have no memory of it. The bill comes and it's $5,999. Would you feel like this is fair?
Meaningful ones? My area has two major hospitals, and two major insurers. Each hospital has bought up the vast majority of primary care practices in the area and slapped their logos on them; each insurer has a preferred hospital they steer you towards. Within that hospital's network of practices there's no meaningful competition. Most people can't pick between the two insurers; work decides.
> And the whole "health is priceless" is laughable considering obesity and smoking.
It's priceless when acutely at risk. People are horrible about preventative care, but they'll shell out virtually anything not to die next week.
I think the choices are between care options, and are absolutely meaningful. Few would choose to spend 250k on end of life care if that was coming from their grandkids college fund. Few would try a 50k implant or surgery before physical therapy if they had to pay.
It does, all the time. These places just offer services that are less prone to "whatever price it is, I'll spend it".