Most voters believe free market competition will reduce health care costs… really?

2013

From Rasmussen:

Voters have consistently said for years that cost is their biggest health care concern, and most still believe the free market, not government control, is the best way to keep those costs down. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters think free market competition would do more to reduce health care costs than more government regulation. Only 23% disagree and believe more government intervention in the health care market is the better way to go. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure.

This got me to thinking, do people even understand what free markets and competition mean or how it would apply to health care? Today insurance companies compete for business both in the individual and group markets, pharmaceutical benefit managers compete for business and heaven knows with all the ads on TV and radio hospitals want to attract your business not to mention most Americans have a wide choice of physicians. So what’s all this competition stuff, who needs to compete for what? And what do we want most from competition, lower costs or higher quality? While high cost does not translate to high quality, neither does lower cost.

Perhaps what we are talking about is eliminating all insurance and just let people shop for each health care procedure or maybe we set up health care malls where nurses ride around on Segway’s.

Seriously, free market competition and health care are a contradiction. You can not, repeat can not apply traditional market and competition principles to health care… because you don’t want to shop for health care, you want to get well first and foremost.