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Jun. 11th, 2010
If shopping for groceries worked like our healthcare system, it would be like this:
When you go to a grocery store, none of the goods have prices on them, though there are signs everywhere advertising things like "Caviar -- it's essential for your health!" "Over 40? Eat at least three French truffles a day" "Ask your grocer about Alaskan King Crab". None of the grocery store employees know the actual prices. In fact, they're not allowed to know as it might bias their recommendations. When you check out, they make a careful note of everything you bought, but don't give you a bill. You either get a bill months later, with vague descriptions like "essential nutrients", or you don't get a bill at all, and the averaged cost of groceries for millions of your fellow shoppers is automatically deducted from your paycheck. It's madness.
Due to rising healthcare costs, high-deductible plans paired with HSAs are getting more popular. In this case, the consumer has a desire, but not the tools, to save money on healthcare costs. Fortunately, some startups are looking to help people become aware of the actual costs of medical procedures at various hospitals. This is very exciting, as it will lead to real market forces doing what market forces are supposed to do.
Have a read: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/technology/11cost.html?hpw
When you go to a grocery store, none of the goods have prices on them, though there are signs everywhere advertising things like "Caviar -- it's essential for your health!" "Over 40? Eat at least three French truffles a day" "Ask your grocer about Alaskan King Crab". None of the grocery store employees know the actual prices. In fact, they're not allowed to know as it might bias their recommendations. When you check out, they make a careful note of everything you bought, but don't give you a bill. You either get a bill months later, with vague descriptions like "essential nutrients", or you don't get a bill at all, and the averaged cost of groceries for millions of your fellow shoppers is automatically deducted from your paycheck. It's madness.
Due to rising healthcare costs, high-deductible plans paired with HSAs are getting more popular. In this case, the consumer has a desire, but not the tools, to save money on healthcare costs. Fortunately, some startups are looking to help people become aware of the actual costs of medical procedures at various hospitals. This is very exciting, as it will lead to real market forces doing what market forces are supposed to do.
Have a read: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/technology/11cost.html?hpw
On Wednesday I went to a wedding that was held at a nightclub. Attendees were encouraged to make Twitter posts about the wedding, and a live feed of them was projected on the wall. There was a pair of iPad bearers (less cheesy than you'd think), which allowed the bride and groom to click the right buttons when they were told "I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now update your Facebook status to 'married.' " The wedding DJs played mashups (Hey, '70s and '80s hits for the old folks and modern songs for the young ones *at the same time*! So efficient!), a pair of in-house dancers did a swinging pole dance and a dance integrated with an interactive video projection, and a pair of roving masseuses provided massages for the wedding-goers.
I thought it was great. Your wedding is your night, a chance to be king and queen for a day and mold reality to the way you want it.
(There's some digression here about demographic shifts that are causing people to get married later, which means they are more likely to pay for their own weddings as opposed to having them paid for and organized by their families, and thus the weddings will reflect their own desires more than their parents'.)
I thought it was great. Your wedding is your night, a chance to be king and queen for a day and mold reality to the way you want it.
(There's some digression here about demographic shifts that are causing people to get married later, which means they are more likely to pay for their own weddings as opposed to having them paid for and organized by their families, and thus the weddings will reflect their own desires more than their parents'.)