Plans are deliberately priced to be confusing to compare prices; plans are frequently updated to cause people to be stuck in win-optimal contracts; consumers are gouged on some items (see bizarre cost of sms in UK); and companies collude to defeat market mechanisms - see the use of area codes in auction bids as a method of communication when frequencies were auctioned off.
I'm a bit confused how anyone using a cellphone could chino otherwise.
We choose between what we have, not what is the best or the right thing to choose.
So because in this day and age it's convenient to have a cell phone, the choice to do without one is not a free choice. And because one doesn't have an unlimited number of carriers to choose from, that choice is also not a free choice.
I'm using free choice in a different way, perhaps. To me, unless someone puts a gun to your head (so to speak), every choice you make is a free choice. That doesn't mean the choices are without consequences, or that they are necessarily good for you.
So you are free to not choose one but the consequences are huge to most people in fact to big.
It's not a rational choice as the free market philosophy claims, its a choice thats primed by whats considered desirable at any given time.
cell phones opportunistically exploit that innovation.
the fact that you get great hardware for a tiny monthly cost is just proof that they're over charging most people for something else.
You are getting fleeced!
Those are examples of designed markets, even though there are accompanying technologies, as is the current mobile telephony business. Now guess who stands in the way of implementing those changes?
Most hospitals will not, however, tell you how much a procedure costs making shopping around for non-emergency procedures impossible. Combine that with the usual low deductible health insurance plans and you've driven out any incentive for the consumer to even attempt getting a good deal.