fourfive8
AH legend
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2017
- Messages
- 4,473
- Reaction score
- 10,611
- Media
- 263
- Hunted
- USA, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana
Hang around a Medicaid clinic sometime. Build it, make it "free" (taxpayer subsidized) and they will come. Many view such clinics and "free" services as a weekly social event, needed or not.Healthcare is just like any other product: it is subject to supply & demand. Unlike other products the demand curve is flat since people don't want a procedure unless it's needed; and the supply (aka medical staff) is vertical since the time & effort to become a provider (doctor) does not change (in the near term,years). As population increases due to immigration and longer lives, the demand increases. Merely giving everyone insurance only answers the payment issue, nothing for the availability issue.
So if you want medical services at a reasonable price, get rid of for-profit insurance companies and legislate for more medical schools that in addition to fully trained doctors provide specialized providers who can do a few things very well without the years and years of medical school.
One only need look to the amount of medical school graduates compared to the number of law school graduates to see the source of the supply problem.