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Comment by Nathanael47 | Hacker News Reader

+1 for price controls in medicine

I like the idea of transparent pricing that some surgery centers are implementing. One example is the Surgery Center of Oklahoma which simply displays the prices of their procedures on their website.

This way, people can make informed decisions about their health and purchase procedures at rates far below what is charged through insurance.

"Transparent, direct, package pricing means the patient knows exactly what the cost of the service will be upfront. Fees for the surgeon, anesthesiologist and facility are all included in one low price. There are no hidden costs, charges or surprises."

http://www.surgerycenterok.com/pricing.php

I too like the transparent pricing, CVS Minute Clinics are a great example, if they offer a service it is listed on their price chart.

In FL medical facilities that post prices of their 50 most common treatments are given a discount on their license fee. I think that is great, but you have to laugh at how pro-business states get businesses to do anything pro-consumer.

Separately, under the FL Patient Bill of Rights, even if a medical facility does not post their pricing, if requested by the patient the provider must provide a reasonable estimated charges of such service.

Either that or take away the legally protected monopolies that doctors (licensing of physicians and accreditation of medical schools, both of which are used to restrict the supply of doctors to ensure US doctors are the highest paid in the world), hospitals (certificates of need) and drug companies (drug patents) all enjoy.

If these monopolists didn't have the government protecting them from competition, they would not be able to gouge consumers so hideously.

While I think there is lots of medicine that is wasteful, if your plan is to tell Americans "it is illegal to pay more than $X for procedure Y" it is a complete non-starter.

No way! This will be socialism!

Just like libraries, fire, police, roads, government buildings and the army :)

And, huh, those aren't exactly at the forefront of advances in technology. And they are not necessarily cheap either.

I always wondered if we could run a 'medical service' that was a viable 'public service' alternative to spending time in the military or peace corps. Basically let young people volunteer to be health care workers, give them training, and guaranteed employment for 4 - 6 years. At the end of their enlistment they can go out to the private health care system or other jobs.

Can you imagine the horror of spend a billion dollars a week "invading" a country like Afghanistan and having a 100,000 health care workers on the ground making everyone healthier?

Libraries work ok.

Re police: just reading an article over at popehat.com about how a cop framed someone for a murder and sent her to death row.

Re roads: here in Massachusetts we've got toll roads that spend 80 cents of every dollar collected...on paying the tolltakers.

Re army: take a look at the defense budget some time.

There are some decent arguments in favor of government, but you picked some of the worst.

Would those things be better if they were privately run for profit? My personal opinion is that there are certain things that you can't allow the the private sector to run because it leaves too much room for abuse by individuals looking to make a profit. As a Canadian who's mother is a doctor, the one thing that really bothers me about the healthcare system in the US is that from a business stand point insurance companies are more profitable the more claims they deny, which really doesn't sit well with me. I'm not saying our system is perfect by any means, or that the US doesn't have a high quality of healthcare (if you can afford it). But the thought of someone making a profit on someone else not get a medical treatment that they need leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Are you suggesting that we'd be better off with private security forces replacing the role of the police and army?

Libraries, police, roads, and the army are great examples in favor of government. All you've done is demonstrate that there are exceptions, as there are to anything.

The defense budget is not an exception to the rule. It is the rule. (Almost the Rule, as in kings and rulers.)

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