The Price of Life and the Cost of Health Care: Why the Free Market Alone Can't Fix Health Care
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- Synopsis
- Health-care expenses have been rising faster than inflation in virtually every industrialized country for the past several decades, making it increasingly difficult for people to afford health care. Market advocates like George W. Bush argue that the solution resides in the power of markets. If health-care markets were more competitive, the thinking goes, then health-care quality would increase at the same time that health-care prices go down. However, what this theory doesn't take into account is the fact that when people evaluate health-care interventions, they often rely on psychological shortcuts that impede good decision making. This chapter examines how factors like scarcity, novelty, and price influence people's perceptions of the quality of goods they purchase, challenging the idea that free markets are the solution to the inefficiencies of the health-care system and other widespread problems. This chapter is excerpted from "Free Market Madness: Why Human Nature Is at Odds with Economics--and Why It Matters."
- Copyright:
- 2009
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- Publisher:
- Harvard Business Publishing
- Date of Addition:
- 08/03/16
- Copyrighted By:
- HBS Press
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Nonfiction, Business and Finance
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.