I was actually responding just to the issue of predicting costs, not to the upthread issue of whether or not a free market is a good idea.
Predicting costs is a benefit regardless of whether or not we have a free market -- I was saying that nothing is completely unpredictable; estimating based on the average value of a treatment gets you much further than knowing nothing at all.
Claiming costs are inherently unpredictable is equivalent to calling B.S. on this report -- that the values in the report are meaningless. Clearly, they're quite meaningfull.
I never claimed estimation = "problem solved", I just said that it's a step forward that needs to happen. But you came along and just dismissed the idea because it wasn't a solution.
And my reply, which you thought was ignoring your comment, was that a step forward doesn't have to be a solution -- you can't just dismiss it because it doesn't stamp "Problem solved" on the bottom of the page.
Unless you or others are claiming that being given an estimate of costs HURTS anyone, I don't see how you can argue it's a bad idea. "Problem not solved" never solved any problem.
Responding to some random sentence in the middle of a discussion as if you actually have something relevant to say is annoying, and a big waste of other people's time. If you want to go off on a tangent, say so. Then nobody has to try to figure out what you're on about.
Predicting costs is not an inherent benefit. That only is useful if somebody will change a decision based on the prediction. Otherwise, it's wasted effort. My mom was on Medicare throughout her cancer treatment, and I promise you: not knowing the costs was perfectly fine.
In fact, not knowing was better. The cognitive load of a major illness is huge. Not knowing is also better for most medical personnel. Their goal should be to maximize patient outcomes. Asking them to juggle some sort of cost-benefit tradeoff in the middle of treatment adds an insane and impossible burden.
Also, you quite literally did say "problem solved" after proposing SWAG estimation as a solution to a problem. Maybe you wanted me to have some other understanding, but I have no idea what it would be. And, since you admit you are off on some sort of tangent, I don't really care.
Predicting costs is a benefit regardless of whether or not we have a free market -- I was saying that nothing is completely unpredictable; estimating based on the average value of a treatment gets you much further than knowing nothing at all.
Claiming costs are inherently unpredictable is equivalent to calling B.S. on this report -- that the values in the report are meaningless. Clearly, they're quite meaningfull.
I never claimed estimation = "problem solved", I just said that it's a step forward that needs to happen. But you came along and just dismissed the idea because it wasn't a solution.
And my reply, which you thought was ignoring your comment, was that a step forward doesn't have to be a solution -- you can't just dismiss it because it doesn't stamp "Problem solved" on the bottom of the page.
Unless you or others are claiming that being given an estimate of costs HURTS anyone, I don't see how you can argue it's a bad idea. "Problem not solved" never solved any problem.