Hello, Dr. Keith Smith with you. Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Thank you for joining me. I recently had to endure yet another economist claim that the free market does not apply to the healthcare industry.
His point was that the patient in the ambulance who is unconscious, after all, cannot make choices, and without choice, the free market cannot be said to work or even be at work. I would argue that we all make choices. The hospital and the emergency room where this patient is headed, can make a choice, and if they choose to victimize this patient, and weaponize their charge master to make the rest of their life a financial disaster, I would argue, they have made a choice.
The market, at work, would punish anyone who victimize the vulnerable and the sick, and as we see more and more competition in this industry, I think we will see the market do what only the market can do, and that is deliver consequences that are proportionate to those who act in such an unethical way.
I would argue that the market is always at work, all the time, everywhere. You’re either in sync with it, reaping its bounty, or you are not in sync and at odds with it. In which case, your world looks like Venezuela, where you are only reaping its consequences.
At the bottom of the written version of this video post and blog, there is a link to an article by Dr. John Goodman, an economist, who, thankfully, gives a shout out to the Surgery Center of Oklahoma about the free market at work in the healthcare industry. This is a great article. I encourage you to read it.
Thank you for joining me, we’ll see you next time.