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Comment by maxharris | Hacker News Reader

And, to be fair, they would also be deprived of the last shred of choice left in health care. Want a second opinion under that system? Prepare to pay the doctor under the table (at the risk of criminal prosecution), or stand in line until you feel better.

If health care is ever going to be truly available to all, it's going to be through the same means and rules that gave us the iPhone. (Unfettered pioneers are left free to pay high prices at first, then economies of scale bring prices on that new innovation to ever-lower levels. Let me count the ways that is not the case in health care today!)

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Most consensus is that normal market forces don't work very well for health care for a variety of reasons. Firstly people are notoriously terrible in predicting what coverage they might need (so any choice offered becomes of nebulous utility right off the bat). Secondly, because of the nature of health emergencies, most people are not in a good condition to investigate their options at the time of care. You can spend months researching the optimal smart phone for your budget and use case, you spend the same amount of time on looking into your cancer treatment you'll end up in the same place as Steve Jobs.

For the average consumer, demand is very inelastic when it comes to ~not dieing~ and availability of information + expertise to evaluate said information is sparse. Single payer is the far more efficient solution for everyone except the middle men profiting off the current system.

> And, to be fair, they would also be deprived of the last shred of choice left in health care. Want a second opinion under that system?

Why would nationalized healthcare prevent the opening of private clinics?

> health care is ever going to be truly available to all, it's going to be through the same means and rules that gave us the iPhone.

You seem to not realize that some people can't afford food and clothing, forget iphones.

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