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alwayslikethis | on: Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 30 years to prove
> the free market-based US healthcare system

market, maybe, "free" market? I doubt it.

It's not a very free market when there is such a large power differential between the buyer and the seller. You can't exactly shop around for the ambulance or the hospital when you need it, nor can you realistically circumvent the artificially constrained supply [1] of doctors to get cheaper healthcare (unless you live next to the border).

When the alternative is a one-sided market like this, government becomes rather more appealing.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Medical_Association#R...

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xbmcuser | parent | next
To me that is the funny thing today if you look at markets Chinese markets under it's communist system are actually freer than US. China is not interested any 1 company getting a monopoly and becoming more powerful than the government so they promote finance multiple companies resulting in a truer capitalist market than the US.
corimaith | root | parent | next
Not really. Chinese SOEs comprise around 60% of market capitalization and around 23% of GDP, far higher than USA.

While they do have a competitive market, the government very much does pick and choose winners and loosers here like Huawei, resulting in consolidation into a few large conglomerates like every other country. Their (software) tech scene certainly dosen't like more particularly "capitalist" than Big Tech, nor is the Fed pumping subsidies to Tesla like BYD, if anything they're sidelining Elon Musk.

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WalterBright | parent | next
> You can't exactly shop around

The vast bulk of health care is by appointment, not a dash in the ambulance.

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