By Kati Talento, Former Whitehouse Policy Advisor
Healthcare is the only industry where being cheaper and better than your competition doesn’t get you more customers.
A hospital cut prices by 50%. Improved quality scores to A+. Then they waited for the stampede of patients & employers. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened. Why?
There is NO market in health care. Patients can’t shop – they’re trapped in garbage insurance plans that don’t reward it. Insurers won’t shop – lower prices hurt their bottom line.
The only ones who CAN respond to better prices & quality? Unions, employers and governments. And they’ve been buying insurance thinking it was the only way to get lower cost health care. Price transparency finally showed them they were wrong.
Now they’re getting mad. Finally.
