Economists, even when sometimes trying too hard to play devil's advocate, aren't technically wrong when they state that the market for healthcare could function like the market for most other goods and services. (Steve Levitt uses cars as an example in the linked article.) The thing about the market for, say, cars, however, is that people who are not willing and able to pay for a car don't get cars. Therefore, until we as a society are cool with people who aren't willing and able to pay for healthcare not getting healthcare (which I'm not recommending), the market for healthcare is in fact a different beast than most other markets.
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