I don't think this is the #1 issue with health care, Matt.
I think the #1 issue with health care is that virtually all market health care in the US is provided through insurance companies who collude with providers to set prices.
It's hard to convince me that our big problem is that people are paying for unnecessary care when we have no idea what care costs. Per-service cost numbers are arrived at via allocation schemes based on bulk purchase agreements between hospital chains and giant insurers.
Unnecessary care certainly is an issue, but how do you rank it when you don't know what an MRI, a hospital bed, an ambulance ride, or an appendectomy should actually cost?
I think the #1 issue with health care is that virtually all market health care in the US is provided through insurance companies who collude with providers to set prices.
It's hard to convince me that our big problem is that people are paying for unnecessary care when we have no idea what care costs. Per-service cost numbers are arrived at via allocation schemes based on bulk purchase agreements between hospital chains and giant insurers.
Unnecessary care certainly is an issue, but how do you rank it when you don't know what an MRI, a hospital bed, an ambulance ride, or an appendectomy should actually cost?