I enjoyed John Murawski’s excellent health care story in today’s N&O. You should read it if you haven’t already.
One underlying theme I deduced from the story is summarized here:
“Hospitals have a possibility of providing you with a network of referring physicians, where you can sleep on a more comfortable cushion, knowing that you’re going to get a share of the market and referrals on a regular basis,” Lacin said.
Lacin also said working for Rex frees him and other doctors from money worries and lets them concentrate on practicing medicine.
This got me thinking. Could medical care simply not be a good fit for the so-called “free market?” Honestly? Doctors don’t want to hassle with the business side so they let someone else (i.e. hospital) deal with it and, before you know it, our medical costs are soaring.
What if we went to single-payer healthcare in America? It seems to me that the burden of business hassles could be taken on by the government just as easily as a hospital and the costs could be much less.
With its soaring costs, I think it’s fair to say the free market is failing the medical industry. One day Americans will wake up to this and join the civilized societies which value the mutual health of their citizens.
via After loss of key doctors, WakeMed seeks to stabilize | Health & Science | NewsObserver.com.