I have learned that in the free market medicine, the price of healthcare goods and services is determined freely by the agreement between the patient and the medical providers and that there is no government intervention to control demand and supply of the healthcare goods and services. In particular, this has helped improve the efficiency in providing the healthcare services by reducing cases of mismanagement as observed in the government controlled healthcare services. Additionally, the free market medicine has helped reduce the waiting time, and therefore patients can see the medicine providers more frequently (Stossel, 2013). Currently, the free market medicine curbed the bureaucracies associated with the government controlled medicine market. Therefore, there is ease of accessing the medical care as one wishes and this has helped to improve the quality of life lived by the people.
The recent changes in the healthcare sector which advocate free market medicine is a good idea because people can choose the medical provider of their choice, the agreement between the patient and the medical provider also determines the price (Heiman & Artiga, 2015). Nevertheless, this seems an ideal situation since medicine is not like any other regular good left to operate in a free market. This is because medicine as a good brings market failures and therefore need for government intervention. The high cost of medical care will deny the poor from getting medical care, and this will lead to unequal distribution of the health care services.
Finally, the Affordable Care Act is a better solution for providing healthcare to all people equally. It has proven more practical and effective since everyone has a right to healthcare insurance covers even it does not sideline those with pre-existing medical conditions because of their high medical care cost (Hardcastle, Record, Jacobson, & Gostin, 2011). This Affordable Care Act is a government initiative and therefore cannot suffer from market failure. The price of medical care services is under control by the government hence the medical care services become more accessible to all. In my point of view, therefore, the Affordable Care Act still holds as the best option.
Reference
Hardcastle, L. E., Record, K. L., Jacobson, P. D., & Gostin, L. O. (2011). Improving the population's health: the Affordable Care Act and the importance of integration.
Heiman, H. J., & Artiga, S. (2015). Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved from http://kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/beyond-health-care-the-role-of-social-determinants-in-promoting-health-and-health-equity/
Stossel, J. (2013). John Stossel - Free Market or Government Medicine: What Will Be The New Way? 4/25/13 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0e3-EvpDwM
