There’s this ongoing debate/discussion about healthcare as an economic good. Fact is, unlike flat panel TVs or cars, healthcare is quite different for a whole bunch of reasons;;
- we often don’t know what services we need,
- even experts are often unable to make informed decisions,
- we don’t know what the cost will be, and
- even if we’re given an estimate up front, that’s just an estimate,
- once you’ve paid your out-of-pocket maximum you don’t care about cost, and
- in many circumstances the emotion involved makes rational decision making impossible
To further explain how healthcare is different, I offer Sarah Mirk’s take on what would happen if other services were like healthcare…
How the health insurance marketplace works – School!
How emergency healthcare works – Fire departments!
More of Sarah’s work – and a lot of other cool stuff – is at The Nib.
