It is not uncommon in US going to the hospital and they giving you a list of options and prices. I don't know how to call that but definitely feels like a market.
BTW, I come from from a European country with universal healthcare and have been living in US for almost a decade and the feeling of someone making money of your health is at least weird. If I ever have some severe health issue no doubt I will go to treat myself to my country of origin.
EDIT: Also tired to hear about the problems of universal health care, specially with wait times. It is true that less important treatments could take some extra time but I have never seen a case where a fast intervention was needed and did not happen. I would say that common sense is something that works for universal healthcare. At least where I come from.
> EDIT: Also tired to hear about the problems of universal health care, specially with wait times. It is true that less important treatments could take some extra time but I have never seen a case where a fast intervention was needed and did not happen. I would say that common sense is something that works for universal healthcare. At least where I come from.
Almost all countries with universal care also have private options (Norway used to be an exception where offering private options for services available from the public healthcare system used to be practically impossible, but even Norway has relented on this though). Often the private options are also cheaper than the US.
E.g. for elective surgeries Americans might want to check London hospitals - many world-leading private hospitals for various conditions that are used to targeting foreign patients - especially wealthy ones - but still often charging much lower prices.
It's also not that unusual for those of us in the UK who can afford to go private to do so when we have some condition that the NHS certainly will treat but where there's a waiting list because it's not important.
And there are plenty of private insurers - only because the NHS offers a baseline, they're far cheaper than most US plans because almost all of them rely on the NHS as a first line and instead of picking up the bill for everything they only pick up the bill to accelerate care whenever there's a wait to see certain NHS specialists.
People need to consider the universal care to be the baseline. How much people are prepared to pay for the baseline over taxes will affect how fancy the baseline is, so if you want something better you'll need to pay. But at least it ensures everyone gets the baseline.
BTW, I come from from a European country with universal healthcare and have been living in US for almost a decade and the feeling of someone making money of your health is at least weird. If I ever have some severe health issue no doubt I will go to treat myself to my country of origin.
EDIT: Also tired to hear about the problems of universal health care, specially with wait times. It is true that less important treatments could take some extra time but I have never seen a case where a fast intervention was needed and did not happen. I would say that common sense is something that works for universal healthcare. At least where I come from.