This is a good point, but I think the answer is pretty straight forward:
"Not everybody can afford cell phones. What's the point in offering them on a free market place for the 1% who can afford them?"
Initially introducing price sensitivity into the healthcare space would only touch marginal areas - maybe surgeries that could be scheduled and small things where it's quite interesting to see whether CVS or Walgreens is the more inexpensive choice, or whether the physical is cheaper at an urgent care clinic or my primary care doctor who offers a monthly low membership fee. But, eventually, open competition by those who master processes and methodologies will create a price pressure (combined with public reviews/vetting) that will permeate the entire industry. Those who optimize by leaving patients happier (less cost more care) will draw more attention, money, expand). So, if you can picture such a model, even the person hit by a car in an accident could benefit from faster and higher quality EMR as and end point of a whole long list of improvements triggered initially by something as mundane as transparency in pricing. Still, funny, we accept that for most parts of our lives as a given.
"Not everybody can afford cell phones. What's the point in offering them on a free market place for the 1% who can afford them?"
Initially introducing price sensitivity into the healthcare space would only touch marginal areas - maybe surgeries that could be scheduled and small things where it's quite interesting to see whether CVS or Walgreens is the more inexpensive choice, or whether the physical is cheaper at an urgent care clinic or my primary care doctor who offers a monthly low membership fee. But, eventually, open competition by those who master processes and methodologies will create a price pressure (combined with public reviews/vetting) that will permeate the entire industry. Those who optimize by leaving patients happier (less cost more care) will draw more attention, money, expand). So, if you can picture such a model, even the person hit by a car in an accident could benefit from faster and higher quality EMR as and end point of a whole long list of improvements triggered initially by something as mundane as transparency in pricing. Still, funny, we accept that for most parts of our lives as a given.