> If you think the costs of the US healthcare are caused by the market being too regulated
Yes
>doesn't that imply that you think cheaper markets are freer markets?
No. Example: You could imprison slaves and pick cotton, that doesn't mean the cheaper cotton is result of a free market, because it is predicated on force rather than voluntary exchange.
>Would you say that almost all of our peer nations take a more free market approach to healthcare than the US?
An interesting question. Possibly yes, possibly no, but forcing the tax for it under the gun of the tax man is a big strike against it being a free market, in any nation that taxes universally for it. I would have to contrast that against the gun of the regulator in the US effectively forcing the provider and consumer to follow their onerous constraints. One could make the argument that an otherwise unregulated but universal healthcare system might be considered a freer market, but I don't know enough about these other nations to say which ones that may be.
> You could imprison slaves and pick cotton, that doesn't mean the cheaper cotton is result of a free market, because it is predicated on force rather than voluntary exchange.
Isn't regulation against slavery inherently a restriction of a free market? There is obviously violent coercion baked into it, but from an economic perspective, it is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on the market.
> Possibly yes, possibly no, but forcing the tax for it under the gun of the tax man is a big strike against it being a free market, in any nation that taxes universally for it. I would have to contrast that against the gun of the regulator in the US effectively forcing the provider and consumer to follow their onerous constraints. One could make the argument that an otherwise unregulated but universal healthcare system might be considered a freer market, but I don't know enough about these other nations to say which ones that may be.
But whether the funding comes from public or private sources is not what most defines a free market. That comes from competition between buyers and sellers. I view US healthcare as more free market because buyers aren't nearly as limited. Many other countries restrict the market by centralizing purchasing through the government. This distortion of the free market gives the buyers more power which can result in lower negotiated prices. It isn't that healthcare markets in other countries are less regulated that makes them cheaper. It is that they are regulated in specific ways to make sure they are cheaper.
>Isn't regulation against slavery inherently a restriction of a free market? There is obviously violent coercion baked into it, but from an economic perspective, it is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on the market.
What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we can just stop here.
>it [slavery] is basically an elimination of minimum wage which is an artificial limitation on the market.
Someone as intelligent as you doesn't need to be explained this, but I will feed the troll for a moment and make it obvious:
Free market:
A: OK bob, we're setting your wage to zero. Make sure to hit production today.
B: Nah fuck off, EvilCo down the street will pay me 20 Wulans an hour, but my daughter might volunteer for free to work with the CapitalistFuckwad Engineering division on a charity project to help with her college application.
Slavery:
A: OK bob, we're setting your wage to zero. Make sure to hit production today. We'll be changing the code to the cage for your children today, so if you don't hit production we'll be auctioning them off without telling you the code.
B: Yes sire, can I tickle your balls as well in exchange for you allowing to see my wife for 5 minutes in the conjugal visit cage?
A: Great, our labor prices and price to consumers are so much lower now than back when we were called CapitalistFuckwad enterprises and the dopes working for us could actually walk away when we tried paying them zero. Bob's daughter's charity work was great so I can't wait to use the cattle prod to entice her to work on the real meat and potatoes.
>What? Slavery = free market? Are you serious? Free market has voluntary exchange. I'd like you to apologize for deliberately debating in bad faith, otherwise we can just stop here.
Do you think healthcare is always a voluntary exchange? Because a type 1 diabetic has exactly the same choice in whether to participate in the insulin market as a slave does in the labor market. Either they participate or they die. Once you say slavery can't be considered part of a free market, isn't that an admission that lifesaving healthcare also can't be part of a free market?
If you are still demanding an apology, that is an answer to my question and an indication that you don't see the same ethical problem I do in pricing otherwise healthy people out of lifesaving medication.
It's also probably an indication I think it's great to suck the blood out of innocent kittens and that I worship a portrait of a pentagram. Have fun making whatever accusation you want, they'll be left undefended.
Yes
>doesn't that imply that you think cheaper markets are freer markets?
No. Example: You could imprison slaves and pick cotton, that doesn't mean the cheaper cotton is result of a free market, because it is predicated on force rather than voluntary exchange.
>Would you say that almost all of our peer nations take a more free market approach to healthcare than the US?
An interesting question. Possibly yes, possibly no, but forcing the tax for it under the gun of the tax man is a big strike against it being a free market, in any nation that taxes universally for it. I would have to contrast that against the gun of the regulator in the US effectively forcing the provider and consumer to follow their onerous constraints. One could make the argument that an otherwise unregulated but universal healthcare system might be considered a freer market, but I don't know enough about these other nations to say which ones that may be.