Ever since medicine became a profession, doctors have had, or at least claimed, the advantage of a vast amount of specialized knowledge about the incredibly complex system that is the human body. This is a problem for consumers because it is often difficult to verify whether the services rendered have been effective, rather than useless or even destructive. If you go to the doctor for a routine checkup and he says you need to start taking an expensive medicine to avert a potential health issue, you as the patient have no way of knowing whether the medicine is working, or even whether the doctor was telling the truth in the first place. This information asymmetry has always been one of the strongest arguments by proponents of medical licensure and the extensive training requirements physicians must undergo, and has presented one of the most difficult challenges to the classical economics assumption of perfect information. But advances in technology always seem to strengthen the case for liberty, and the field of medicine is no exception. Beginning with the internet and now extending to devices like the tricorder, consumers have been granted an unprecedented level of information about their own health. The wave of self-diagnosis ushered in by sites like WebMD, a constant consternation to physicians, have empowered patients to resist unnecessary treatments and medical quackery. A professional doctor–the much lauded expert–has to cope with the entire body of human knowledge about every conceivable medical condition. But no one knows the patterns and rhythms of his own body better than the individual, and said individual has the greatest incentive, by far, to acquire solid and extensive information about the single condition from which he suffers. The decentralization of medicine offered by technology not only increases information, but also lowers the barriers to entry (notwithstanding any legal ramifications) for the amateur practitioner. It will not be long before the medical industry’s ability to restrict output and raise prices will be compromised by increased independence and competence among patients, nurses and alternative medical providers alike. Ultimately, this will lead to more competition, better quality of care and lower prices. mises.ca/posts/blog/star-trek-and-the-decentralization-of-medicine/
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 02:31:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015