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Comment by redler | Hacker News Reader

It's also important to consider that Lasik and cosmetic surgeries are elective procedures characterized by elastic demand. Having a trauma surgeon remove a ruptured spleen, or being treated for a heart attack, are situations where demand is completely inelastic.

One might shop around for the best way to spend a spare $10,000 for an eye lift, but who can be expected to shop for an economically satisfying deal while in a life-threatening situation? Reducing regulation would not change this essential qualitative difference.

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Doctors running all over the ER and into operating rooms plays well on TV... but in real life most surgery is scheduled days or even weeks ahead of time.

Even in emergencies, if you knew the reputation of a hospital and were responsible for paying your own bills, you'd likely go to the one that had the price/performance reputation that you were most comfortable with.

While emergency care needs to be taken into account, most medical issues are just not emergencies, they are merely pressing. Even super expensive, life threatening ones (ie, a cancer diagnosis) allow for a bit of shopping around, second opinions and such.

So if most surgery, and near all outpatient procedures are not-pressing and possible to shop around for, why can't I know how much it costs ahead of time?

> ... being treated for a heart attack, are situations where demand is completely inelastic.

Not true. Even in a sprawling place like Oklahoma City, most of the middle class lives within safe transport distance of several hospitals. It would be perfectly rational for them to tell the ambulance crew to drive another five minutes to save $25,000.

Most emergencies have plenty of time for price shopping.

>> ... being treated for a heart attack, are situations where demand is completely inelastic.

> (...) It would be perfectly rational for them to tell the ambulance crew to drive another five minutes to save $25,000.

I wouldn't want to be in your care. If you're having a heart attack you want to get into a hospital ASAP. And that's coming from somebody that took a taxi to the hospital after being stabbed in the chest.

Most heart attacks are small and not immediately life threatening. Some are dangerous but they tend not to be survivable anyway.

Most Americans wait over two hours to seek care for a heart attack! Cost is a big reason why—even a false alarm can cost several months of income. If people had the privilege of taking the time to comparison shop and drive out of their way for a good deal, they would probably get care faster.

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