It makes my little heart go pitter-patter to read articles like this, and in the Times, no less. The single biggest flaw in our health care system is the lack of data available to consumers and insurers. Data on quality (outcomes, complications, “best practices,” errors) is catching on with insurers and hospitals, but pricing information still lags, although Aetna’s recent move to post prices for hundreds of medical tests and procedures might help change that.

Watch for single-payer proponents to cry foul. Better price and quality data in the health care industry may help make it–horror of horrors–more like a normal market. You know, real choices, competition, the whole nine yards. And functional health care markets give lie to the claim that medical care can’t be adequately provided through the private sector.

[Cross-posted at the 'Dredge Report]

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 22nd, 2005 at 10:22 am by Adrienne Aldredge and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.