There are a significant number of people in this country that will view this as the market enforcing rational healthcare (at least until it affects a loved one). I’m not sure we have the will to improve our care.

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baggachipz 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> at least until it affects a loved one

This lack of empathy extends to many other areas: Drug addiction, homelessness, rights for marginalized groups, etc. So long as there is a profit motive, these things will suffer due to the selfishness of those who don't (yet) receive a benefit.

	▲	paddleon 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Concur. Lack of empathy is the curse of our age and the destruction of our society.

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toast0 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Emergency room care is definitely not a rational market. Hospitals have a federal obligation to provide stabilizing care regardless of ability to pay. That's not really a market.

I wonder how this study controlled for hospital selection though. In locations with multiple hospitals available, ambulances route patients on multiple factors... Perhaps there are factors leading to these hospitals receiving patients less likely to survive.

Additionally, PE often purchases distressed companies, so the likely alternative to a PE purchase of a hospital is a closed hospital. In some cases, closing the hospital would be better, but probably not all of them.

	▲	MangoToupe 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		There's lots of ways that market forces that should normally work don't. For instance: * the amount billed to individuals is often wildly different than the bill an insurance agency would negotiate with a provider. (I'm not an expert, there may be more layers of indirection there; this is simply my mildly-educated impression.) * Depending on the sort of care you seek, a provider may have a de-facto monopoly in the area. * There's no obligation (or indeed incentive) to be up-front about costs—we've all had the experience where we were charged for a service that wasn't even presented as a clear option, let alone one that would cost money, let alone anything approaching a reasonable charge for the service rendered. * When you need care the most is often when you're least able or inclined to play providers against each other/shop around. * Deductibles are so high we're essentially pitting high regular premiums against worst-case scenarios, which is deviously difficult to reason about, even for actuarial experts. ...etc etc. It's not easy to proactively think through costs in the world of American healthcare even as a cost-conscious, pessimistic actor. And on top of all this, the sheer bureaucracy necessary to manage negotiating payments and insurance coding adds a significant amount of overhead (inefficiency) to the provider's end bill and to your premiums—how on earth can you audit a provider's or insurer's efficiency? It's all opaque, and most of us don't want to think about it at all.

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someguynamedq 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We both have the will to improve care and a lack of understanding of the true nature of the finance industry. People don't understand what PE is so they assume it is some kind of business people legitimately trying to run a business

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justinzollars 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Thats not how private equity works.

	▲	MangoToupe 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		You're going to have to articulate yourself with particulars if you want me to understand what you're talking about. For instance, I didn't mention private equity at all, so I'm confused why you might think I was attempting to refer to them.