Sparky gets it.
As a doctor, I have every financial incentive to treat chronic medical conditions rather than heal them completely. Thus, patients are driven towards chronic care rather than a path towards full recovery. One example is type 2 diabetes. This is directly related to obesity, and starting with high body weight, but also disappearing when patients return to a normal body weight.
The fix is to send all type 2 diabetics onto "The Biggest Loser." The chronic treatment is to give them insulin, several times a day, 25 bucks a shot, 365 days a year, and 10 years later, the cost is $91,250. It might cost 5-10k to send someone to bootcamp and lose the weight, but that's like a 1/10 of the cost. Free market should push towards this treatment if free market works in healthcare.
Unfortunately, it doesn't.
Yes it does. You simply fail to get that your patients respond to the free market too. You may believe you have people over a barrell or something because you have a financial incentive to make sure they come back to you, but they have the incentive to find way to NOT have to come back to you. I ask again, would you continue to take your car back to the same mechanic that can't seem to get it fixed? He has the same financial incentive you do, but what customer is going to keep going back to someone that can't get the job done right?
It really is kind of scary that you apparently have the smarts to be doctor yet are a doctor who thinks they've stumbled onto some peculiarity of the health care system that makes it different from every other good or service. You haven't. You are a provider of a service like any other service out there. Your incentive to make money isn't different than any other provider of service. Any other provider of a service can also treat their customers unethically to keep them coming back. You as doctor, are not unique in that respect. The simple fact is the free market shows that lack ethics might make you some money in the short term, but those that are successfull financially and longevity wise are the ones that do what their customers want and make them happy.
Last edited: