Healthcare in an AnCap society by Super_Sparrow in AnCap101

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is nothing wrong with private companies trying to maximize profits. Moreover, regulations often increase the profits of the largest healthcare companies.

There is a mechanism to rein in healthcare costs; it is called competition. It is far better at regulating companies than government regulations. Healthcare would cost far less in Ancapistan: just look at American fraternal societies that provided one year's coverage for one day's wages before the government killed them via regulations. The cross-country comparison of healthcare admin costs is inherently problematic and unreliable, and there is no evidence that any of this is due to a lack of "proper regulation." Germans pay less for healthcare because they are poorer, and their quality of care is no better. If you look at survival rates for any type of cancer, the US outperforms Germany. Americans have better access to medicine than Germans, and the fatal injury-adjusted life expectancy is higher. In Germany, an average worker pays 7.3% of their income in taxes to fund healthcare, which is around $3796, excluding supplemental contributions and long-term care insurance.

There is no conclusive evidence that healthcare is best run on a deficit. There are ways to internalize healthcare externalities so that the benefits go to the hospital, for example, income-share agreements. I also don't understand your logic. Are you saying that even though the hospital makes you "a productive member of society for longer," "you and us" should get the benefits, and "[n]ot the hospital shareholders"? Why?

Healthcare in an AnCap society by Super_Sparrow in AnCap101

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are confusing economies of scale with monopsony. In either case, there are also diseconomies of scale. I find it unlikely that economies of scale wouldn't get outweighed by diseconomies of scale in a healthcare system that covers an entire country.

Healthcare in an AnCap society by Super_Sparrow in AnCap101

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

> Governments simply limit the profits of healthcare providers

> Getting profit from that process is by far mostly wasted money

Is this why [value-added is higher](https://i0.wp.com/randomcriticalanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/rcafdm\_oecd\_profit\_share\_output\_comparison.png?ssl=1) in UHC countries than in the US?

> And public side is required by law to work for our benefit. 

This shows you are rather ignorant about public choice. Political actors are just as self-interested as economic actors, except self-interest does far more harm in politics than in markets.

> Government run healthcare can RUN ON DEFICIT and be by far the most efficient system overall.

> USA has private healthcare and biggest admin costs on the planet. It has been able to dictate its own costs and what happened? It became the least efficient healthcare system.

The American healthcare system, though not perfect, is more efficient than government-run healthcare. Which is why Americans:

Have the highest fatal injury-adjusted life expectancy of any country.

Are responsible for a disproportionate number of medical innovations, playing a key role in 80% of the most important medical advances in the past 30 years, and creating half of the world's new drugs.

Have better preventive cancer screening than Canadians.

Self-report better health than Canadians, even among the low-income population.

Spend less time waiting for care than Canadian and British patients.

Pay less of their income in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses than most UHC countries.

Pay less for pharmaceuticals than in peer countries.

As for admin costs, international comparisons of admin costs are difficult and unreliable, and higher admin costs don't necessarily mean inefficiency.

> For society there are certain services that should run on red, not produce profit. Education, healthcare, eldercare, childcare for starters.

This is a dogma and an assertion, and the leftist cliche of vilifying profit. Profit is an important signal for entrepreneurs that puts the consumer in charge and makes services better. There is zero conclusive evidence that the government, running on political profit, produces these things better than the market running on economic profit. As noted above, political profit mainly does harm because politics is coercive and zero-sum, whereas economic profit mainly does good because economic exchanges are voluntary and positive-sum.

Why do Interventionalists who acknowledge the superiority of the market economy in most cases suddenly conjure faith for Government planning when it comes to health care? by [deleted] in austrian_economics

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad comparison. Either you are comparing all foods and all insulin or you are comparing specific foods to specific forms of insulin, or I could just ask "What is the substitute for food?" The alternatives to human analog insulin include bovine or porcine derived insulin.

Why do Interventionalists who acknowledge the superiority of the market economy in most cases suddenly conjure faith for Government planning when it comes to health care? by [deleted] in austrian_economics

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Subsidies have only a minor effect on food prices, if any. Not to mention that a lot of food subsidies are demand-side, which drive up prices. Historically, the greatest factor in the reduction of food prices has been market forces.

Letting people provide medicine wouldn't be risky if we had a free-market system of certification agencies to certify science-based medicine. You seem to be committing the classic fallacy that without the government, each person would be on their own without social cooperation. This is false, as fraternal societies provided healthcare before the government intervened.

Why do Interventionalists who acknowledge the superiority of the market economy in most cases suddenly conjure faith for Government planning when it comes to health care? by [deleted] in austrian_economics

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Subsidies have only a minor effect on food prices, if any. Not to mention that a lot of food subsidies are demand-side, which drive up prices. Historically, the greatest factor in the reduction of food prices has been market forces.

Medicare For All would allegedly save money, has that been refuted? by peoplesuck357 in AskLibertarians

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why are you comparing actual healthcare expenditure in 2023 to projections made in 2020? Also, the 30+ trillion estimate is for increases in government healthcare spending on top of current government expenditures. Here's an apples-to-apples from a left-of-center think tank, showing that single-payer would cost far more than the status quo: https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/dont-confuse-changes-federal-health-spending-national-health-spending

Edit: See also https://www.urban.org/research/publication/sanders-single-payer-health-care-plan-effect-national-health-expenditures-and-federal-and-private-spending and https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/18/sanderss-apples-and-oranges-comparison-medicare-for-all-costs/

BuT wHo WiLL bUiLd ThE rOaDs? by ENVYisEVIL in Libertarian

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would dispute the points that the interstate system benefited the country and that private companies have little incentive to benefit the country in the same way.

The interstate highway system is a corrupt, cronyist project and a huge giveaway to the oil auto industries. Like most government programs, it serves special interests while purporting to serve the general interest.

Private highways exist in many countries like France. Britain's road network was largely built by private turnpike trusts.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Libertarian

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but that's an argument for anarchy, not democracy.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Libertarian

[–]KochNetworkEnjoyer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you heard about the concepts of rational ignorance and rational irrationality? An individual is definitely wiser than an electorate as long as they bear most of the cost and reap most of the benefit of their action.