Don’t Outlaw Price Gouging After Harvey. Let the Market Work

submitted by voter from sports.yahoo.com

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]danuker 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I see, the defibrillator strikes me and makes me think a lot. I thank you for the example!

I guess it depends on where you are on a spectrum between "helping a fellow out" and "keeping one's hard-earned cash".

I wouldn't take care of a sick retired stranger, but would pool some money for someone to do it - as private, voluntary health insurance.

I might be going off-topic, feel free to ignore me if it's not interesting anymore :)

The particular incentives you mention in healthcare makes me wonder why the US has among the worst healthcare bang-for-buck.

I guess the US is more towards "keeping", but I suspect there's something more. I believe lower rates of health insurance means people pay for "treat it now!" instead of insurance companies focusing on prevention and cures.

Making health insurance mandatory invites mediocrity and corruption: if the insurance does not do its job, you have no option of not paying. But private and voluntary insurance lets you choose among various providers (private), and even whether to insure (voluntary). I think this is a better solution.

I have to go to sleep now, it's past 2AM in Romania

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I agree with your points, they make a lot of sense.

I guess it depends on where you are on a spectrum between "helping a fellow out" and "keeping one's hard-earned cash".

I think that's really the core of it. It's just a matter of if the person buying actually has the ability to shop around for the best price, or if it's a genuinely predatory situation that they are trapped in. Similar to the overpriced water during a storm, you cannot shop around for the best hospital when you have a heart attack, you simply go to the nearest hospital as fast as you can. The lack of an actual free market in that situation is what makes it predatory, imo.

[–]danuker 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I was writing an article during our discussion.

I integrated your point in my analysis (the "People that are poor AND sick/disabled" heading), and I believe price gouging should stay illegal for people who are disabled and/or can not shop around nor work during a disaster, but should be legalized otherwise.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Cool! Glad I could help you do research for your article. Looks pretty good :)