The U.S. could slash health-care costs with two fundamental changes
What I’ve always found amazing is how cheap dental and eye care is in comparison to other types of medical care. The fact that you can get laser surgery in your eyes for a couple of thousand dollars is incredible, given that a diagnostic test like an MRI can often cost that much. Clearly there is room for competition to reduce costs.<p>Clearly that doesn’t work for emergency services. But is there room to distinguish emergency from non-emergency services? I had surgery for a deviated septum. I don’t know what it cost, but if I had an incentive I could’ve price shopped for it. There are a lot of non-emergency procedures (colonoscopies, hip replacements, knee surgery, etc.) that could be subject to competition.<p>Also, the comparison to Singapore’s health outcomes is a bit odd:<p>&gt; The result is not only 77% less spending than the United States but also, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, one of the healthiest populations in the world.<p>Fun fact: Life expectancy for Asians in the US is 86 years (almost 90 in New Jersey!), quite a bit longer than the 82 years in Singapore.