Market Forces Lower Prices in Health Care

In the US health sector, market forces have successfully led to lower prices, increased affordability, and improved quality and accessibility of health care services. Various studies and experiments have shown that when consumers are given control of their health care spending and become price-conscious, they shop around for better prices and demand lower costs. One such experiment involved letting consumers control their spending for expensive services such as CT scans, MRIs, lab tests, shoulder arthroscopy, hip replacements, and knee replacements. The result was a significant reduction in prices, with hip and knee replacements seeing a 37% price decrease over two years. This demonstrates that market mechanisms can be effective in making health care more universal and affordable.