The stunning truth about healthcare pricing

[Coyote_Bandit]

72. Ummmm......

Charging different people different prices for the same goods or services is price discrimination.

Price discrimination is made illegal under:
the Sherman Antitrust Act 15 U.S.C. §2
the Clayton Act 15 U.S.C. §13, and
the Robinson-Patman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§13-13b, 21a.

Many states also have specific statutes that prohibit such price discrimination.



Given that such price discrimination is rampant one has to wonder why the fuck any so-called effort to reform healthcare completely ignored this most basic issue.

If we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and if we are all created equal then we should all have equal access to healthcare. One measure of equal access is the price of available care.

Meaningful access to healthcare today is segregated based on socio-economic class in much the same way that public education used to be segregated based on race. Separate but equal is inherently unequal.

I have little respect for the bastards in Washington that want to maintain such segregation. They are not stupid. They simply refuse to implement the concept of equality. Fuck 'em.

Constitutional guarantees trump statutory law. The Federal courts should be flooded with cases challenging the practice of price discrimination in health services. They're not. I suspect that is largely because we live in a nation where the judicial system generally requires considerable $$$ to litigate anything other than the most insignificant matters and where justice can be bought.