How about any aspect of human behaviour that involves people with a difference in economic, health, or educational levels will lead to an exploitative marketplace?
(Edit: ^ that looks like a slippery slope to Marxism which isn't intentional so please be gentle with your feedback)
If you want a counterexample to the idea that healthcare prices are high solely because the demand for healthcare is inelastic, look at dental care. There isn't a lot of government funding for dental care, although it is very much necessary for your overall health. As a result, dental care is comparatively cheap - a full routine cleaning plus a check-up from your dentist (handled by private insurance) costs about the same as a single lab test (handled by medicare/medicaid and private insurance). Serious interventions, like wisdom tooth removal, crowns, or braces, cost only thousands of dollars. By contrast, routine surgeries are often in the tens of thousands.
Similarly, in education, private trade schools tend to cost $10,000/year or so, while private colleges are $50,000-70,000. The economic benefits of a private trade school are actually similar to the benefits of several majors.
Dentistry is also similarly... not as strong as you'd hope. "Do something" behavior is strong in that field with relatively little evidence that the amount of interventions we do is necessary.
Also, we should add that private != for-profit. This applies to both trade schools and colleges - don't go to a for-profit school.
I'm not sure what the distinction between private and for-profit is. Can you elaborate?
In the US, we have 3 kinds of schools:
* Public/state schools: The school is run by a state government. Some of these have good quality, but some are not good. All of them give a huge discount to students from the local state.
* Private for-profit: These usually all suck, and are scams. ITT tech, University of Phoenix, and others are in this boat. These make their money by providing an education for less money than they charge in tuition.
* Private non-profit: The school is organized and run as a non-profit institution, but is not connected to the government. Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and most other top colleges are private non-profits. Outside the US, I think Oxford and Cambridge are also like this. Private non-profit trade schools also exist, and they are usually the best ones. An example I can think of is the North Bennet Street School (again in Boston, MA). The high-end schools in this category tend to get more of their money from donations and endowments than from tuition.
Ok, I thought you had something other than non-profit in mind there. My personal experience with private non-profit schools is less shining, to be honest. The vast majority of their success is typically from heavy selection on who they allow in.
There are also a few actual private universities, some non-profit (e.g. Buckingham, a free-market experiment which has survived but not thrived) and some for-profit (e.g. BPP University). But all of our major institutions are semi-public. Ish.
For example, a central incisor bridge I can't stand cost me $2300 a couple of months ago.
Both countries use the same, non-socialized, out-of-pocket-or-private-insurance model of dental care.
There are not many poor US dentists.
Just a month or two ago here was someone talking about how, fresh out of dental school, they were able to secure a $4M loan to set up their practice.
I am in the midst of having some complex dental work done. In the US, I got three competing quotes. The lowest was $49K, the highest $57K.
I am getting it done in Mexico for $23K. With arguably better equipment used (all 'top shelf' implants, materials, etc.)
I was unable to travel for a few years on account of work, and then COVID, and was seeing the local dentist recommended by my health insurer. They advised me that I needed my wisdom teeth removed. I was skeptical: My wisdom teeth came through in my teens with zero pain. I'm an adult with no tooth pain. When I asked why, the dentist was very vague, and told me it was for the best on account of the long-term likelihood of decay. I wasn't convinced. When I recently saw my extended family's local dentist, they showed me that my local Australian dentist had just left decay to flourish in my wisdom teeth, and not even let me know there were cavities there that were fixable. A quick filling would have saved me lots of hassle. Instead it seems they wanted to encourage me to take a much more costly course of action. In case anyone is wondering, this was an expensive clinic in Sydney's CBD. I'll never return!
But compare Medicare reimbursement rates and private insurer rates, compare outcomes and satisfaction with care between private insurers and Medicare/Medicaid, even within the US: the government is the clear winner despite spending much less. Once you compare across countries this becomes even more obvious.
To be clear, the US government has an infinite wallet.
Where the absurdity of healthcare costs come from, in the US, from my experience as a provider there and in Australia, is the huge information assymetry (ie most people cannot doctor themselves - this is true everywhere) along with, in the US, the need to practice hugely defensive medicine and a drive to add in and bill for as many things as possible. The country is totally fucked (on a healthcare basis at least) because the construction of so many perverse incentives has driven the whole mode of behaviour out of whack
A huge fraction of medical care is just as elective as dental.
What's scary is that these people vote... And they want to get the government out of their medicare.