In a system of free-market healthcare, prices for healthcare products and services are set freely by agreement between patients and health care providers, which are subject to the laws and forces of
supply and demand and free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other outside authority. A free market contrasts with a
controlled market
A regulated market (RM) or coordinated market is an idealized system where the government or other organizations oversee the market, control the forces of supply and demand, and to some extent regulate the market actions. This can include tasks s ...
, in which government intervenes in supply and demand through non-market methods such as regulations and laws by creating barriers or incentives to market entry or through directly setting prices.
Advocates of free-market healthcare contend that systems like
single-payer healthcare
Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer").
Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...
and
publicly funded healthcare
Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are ...
holistically results in higher costs, inefficiency, lower quality healthcare, longer waiting times for care, denial of care to some, and administrative mismanagement.
Opponents argue that healthcare as an unregulated commodity invokes market failures not present with government regulation and that selling healthcare as a commodity leads to both unfair and inefficient systems, with poorer individuals being unable to afford preventive care.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free-Market Healthcare
Free market
Healthcare reform in the United States
Health economics
Libertarian theory