Re: [OT]: US healthcare revisited (was: "[OT] Non-degree holders asanengineer (Chris Smolinski)") by "Vitaliy" .

Alex Harford wrote: > The free market is working perfectly. The problem is that the demand > for health care is inelastic. Ie how much are you willing to pay to > avoid death? I disagree, there's plenty of elasticity. I know plenty of people who don't go to the doctor for financial reasons. People make choices that affect their health/risk of dying every day -- eating at McD instead of a fancier restaraunt, living in places with high pollution, choosing hazardous occupations, and so on -- based on financial factors. And in most cases people aren't seeing their doctor to avoid death. I see mine most often when I get a sore throat and I need antibiotics to get rid of the bug. Just remembered another thing: there are palces in the US with abnormal radon emissions (including Spokane, WA where I lived for a number of years). The great majority of residents who own a basement, have never had a radon inspection, or purchased a radon kit ($20) -- despite the very real hazard. There's nothing inelastic about healthcare. If it really was inelastic, everyone would be a doctor. Vitaliy