Spend 30 seconds perusing any comment section, and you’re likely to conclude that Americans can disagree on anything. While common ground seems to have nearly disappeared, there is one agreement that crosses gender, politics, race and religion—healthcare costs in the United States are absurd.was spent on healthcare, twice as much per capita as peer nations. Even more frustrating, Americans aren’t getting what they pay for.
When markets function efficiently, they are the best structure for delivering greater quality, lower prices, low transaction friction and innovation to market participants. Yet, no one can seriously argue that our healthcare market is functioning efficiently. Why? Think of Expedia or Uber—companies that created efficient marketplaces to enable consumers to compare prices, detailed product options and quality ratings in real time before committing to a purchase. These marketplaces equally allow the marketplace’s sellers—such as hotels or car drivers—to find, match and efficiently acquire customers.
Imagine if the Uber app on your iPhone couldn’t connect to the driver’s app on an Android phone, and the driver location and pricing data were only updated once a day. Transparency and the marketplace break down quickly.Consumers generally trust the product side of the healthcare marketplace, trusting their doctors and care providers with their lives. However, confidence in the fairness of treatment prices is extremely low. With transparency, trust in pricing increases.