> Most medical procedures are scheduled ahead of time.
Does that really matter when the procedure is non-optional?
It's not just price that matters, but also the quality of the provided healthcare, and you're forcing somebody to make a stressful decision when they're already impaired by whatever health issue makes that procedure necessary.
Basically, most health-related decisions are made under at least some level of duress, which makes all "free choice" based reasoning at least somewhat suspect.
> Does that really matter when the procedure is non-optional?
Of course it does. If you have time to shop around then you can choose a provider that costs less, and if we had real price transparency it would allow people do to this, which would require providers to compete on price and that would lower costs.
> It's not just price that matters, but also the quality of the provided healthcare, and you're forcing somebody to make a stressful decision when they're already impaired by whatever health issue makes that procedure necessary.
Quality is ensured by medical licensing. If there are five providers that have all met the licensing requirements, maybe some of them are still better than others, but how do you know that even now? It's a completely independent problem. You still need some way to figure that out regardless of whether there is transparent pricing; or you just have to trust the licensing process to ensure a minimum level of quality.
> Basically, most health-related decisions are made under at least some level of duress, which makes all "free choice" based reasoning at least somewhat suspect.
How is this any different than buying food? You have to buy it but that doesn't mean you can't have a market.
The difference with buying food is that that is a recurring item where you as a buyer can learn over time about relative prices and quality and adjust your behavior accordingly.
> Medical procedures are ideally one-time affairs.
Sure, but so are a lot of other things we have markets for. Ideally you don't have to buy a car more than once every five or ten years, by which point the models on the market have been redesigned and your experience may not be relevant. You also have no basis for comparison; if you buy a worse car, how do you know the competition is any better?
The answer is that you rely on the experiences of other people and independent reviewers, or the advice of professionals. If you ask your doctor which provider is better, they may have some information about that -- either be able to tell you they're all the same so choose the cheapest one, or they're all good except this one which should be avoided, so choose the cheapest from the remainder etc.
Does that really matter when the procedure is non-optional?
It's not just price that matters, but also the quality of the provided healthcare, and you're forcing somebody to make a stressful decision when they're already impaired by whatever health issue makes that procedure necessary.
Basically, most health-related decisions are made under at least some level of duress, which makes all "free choice" based reasoning at least somewhat suspect.