I haven't read the book either (yet) - but I agree with you for the most part. I disagree, though, with the lumping together of all health care as something that cannot be negotiated.
Preventative care, elective care, and other voluntary work could, in theory, be negotiated. I could choose where to get a physical, flu shot, dental cleaning, or glasses/contacts/lasic, choose whether or not to have a child (currently dealing with the outrageous costs of that right now...). A wrinkle in this idea is that while it sounds nice for people to be able to choose between a nice doctors' office with an espresso machine in the lobby and a doctor available 24/7, or a more frugal office with a drinking fountain and third-party call center doctors after hours, a likely outcome is that some will be stuck with a choice between making rent and getting preventative care at all.
But you're right for some kinds of care, though: Even if care for an emergency was going to be relatively inexpensive, I don't have the time or mobility to negotiate when an ambulance arrives or when I get to the ER. And if that happens, my ability to pay should not matter in a modern, civilized society.
And more obviously, I do need health insurance in case I fall victim to a rare, unlikely, expensive disease or accident and need care worth more than my net worth. For this reason, I would gladly put a bit of money into a fund to mitigate this risk; that's the point of insurance. I'd be a little annoyed if others who are likely to take more from the fund (smokers, obese people) got to pay the same amount in but were statistically likely to draw more out of it - but not so annoyed or so petty that I would want to exclude them from the group. That fund can be private insurance, or government insurance, but insurance of some kind is needed.
Preventative care, elective care, and other voluntary work could, in theory, be negotiated. I could choose where to get a physical, flu shot, dental cleaning, or glasses/contacts/lasic, choose whether or not to have a child (currently dealing with the outrageous costs of that right now...). A wrinkle in this idea is that while it sounds nice for people to be able to choose between a nice doctors' office with an espresso machine in the lobby and a doctor available 24/7, or a more frugal office with a drinking fountain and third-party call center doctors after hours, a likely outcome is that some will be stuck with a choice between making rent and getting preventative care at all.
But you're right for some kinds of care, though: Even if care for an emergency was going to be relatively inexpensive, I don't have the time or mobility to negotiate when an ambulance arrives or when I get to the ER. And if that happens, my ability to pay should not matter in a modern, civilized society.
And more obviously, I do need health insurance in case I fall victim to a rare, unlikely, expensive disease or accident and need care worth more than my net worth. For this reason, I would gladly put a bit of money into a fund to mitigate this risk; that's the point of insurance. I'd be a little annoyed if others who are likely to take more from the fund (smokers, obese people) got to pay the same amount in but were statistically likely to draw more out of it - but not so annoyed or so petty that I would want to exclude them from the group. That fund can be private insurance, or government insurance, but insurance of some kind is needed.