Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Again, Why Medical Care Ain't Broccoli

The notion by a Supreme Court Associate Justice that the commercial medical care system of the United States is comparable to the commercial buying and selling of broccoli is a specious argument at best. Moreover, the comparison of the commercialized health care market to the broccoli market shows an inveterate indifference to human suffering and pain.  


To understand how different the commercialized health-care market is from the broccoli market, please continue reading this post on the other side of the break.
Henry J. Aaron, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies for The Brookings Institution, has written an excellent piece about the Supreme Court Justices lack of basic economics and how this lack of knowledge may threaten the survival of Obamacare.


Mr. Aaron, in his article, discusses the economics of the Obamacare insurance-purchase mandate.  In reviewing the economics of health care, Mr. Aaron describes how the market for broccoli generally conforms to the basic rules of supply and demand.  Conversely, Mr. Aaron writes that the concept of cross-subsidies -- a key aspect of medical costs borne by the insured for the care of the uninsured -- is a critical part of commercialized health care.  In discussing the concept of cross-subsidies, Mr. Aaron writes: "The very concept of a 'cross-subsidy' eluded the Justices."

To read more about the concept of cross-subsidies and how the market for broccoli is poor analogy for health care, click on the link in the article citation enclosed below.


Aaron, Henry J. "Why Health Care Isn’t Broccoli—Some Basic Economics." The Brookings Institution 2 April, 2012.

No comments:

Post a Comment