Automobiles are much better than they were in 1950, yet they cost less in real terms than they did then, all costs taken into account.WiseOne wrote:Partially true, yes. Meaning, overhead due to ever-increasing third-party control over the medical process, all nominally to curb excesses by doctors. Wonder if just letting doctors overbill would be cheaper :-). There is a medical safety argument too, but I doubt it would stand up to serious scrutiny.Libertarian666 wrote:Health care cost almost nothing until the mid 20th century. It now costs a fortune, largely due to State intrusion.
Why is it that everything provided by the free market, including cosmetic surgery, gets cheaper in real terms over time, whereas everything provided at taxpayer expense gets more expensive over time?
It is because the State is evil.
However - you do have to remember that in the mid-20th century, medicine was very, very limited compared to what we can do today. There was no CT or MRI at that time, for example, and the only brain imaging techniques that didn't require opening up the skull for a direct look were skull X rays and pneumoencephalograms - a painful procedure involving injecting air into the CSF spaces and then doing an X ray. Very happy not to be going back to that!
Airplane travel is MUCH cheaper than it was in the 1950's.
In fact, EVERYTHING that the government hasn't ruined has gotten much cheaper and better since then.
Maybe that's a coincidence.
But that would be stretching credulity, especially because we know why this should be expected, even if all we consider is the incorrect incentives that State intervention causes.