What do you see happening to your healthcare costs in the next few years

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Saying that free market pricing for non essential elective medical procedures is a good example for how to
provide healthcare is not rational.

I gave you an example, and said there were others, of "essential elective medical procedures" being provided by the Oklahoma clinic in which free market prices were way lower than in the highly regulated and controlled standard hospital prices.

My references to Lasik and cosmetic surgery (not what you refer to as "essential procedures") were examples of surgical procedures which are not highly regulated and which therefor have to compete on the open market. So prices are controlled by free competition and are far lower than if those procedures had to conform to costly government regulatory control. Do you believe that Lasik would be less expensive if it were provided under the same regulatory and insurance circumstances as hernia surgery?

You seem to assume that there cannot be a market based system of emergency care. Yes there can. The free market is not only good at responding to vanity and pleasure, it is just as good at responding to necessity.

I still would like an example of a country where the unorganized healthcare system is in place and working, other than the USA with the highest healthcare costs in the world.

Why by country? How about by individual providers such as the Oklahoma clinic that I mentioned? There may well be such individual providers in other countries. I haven't researched that.