Quote from: CompNsci on January 31, 2014, 11:34:38 PM

At least in the U.S., one of the primary problems with healthcare is the lack of a real market for the products and services. Since the tax code provides that health insurance premiums are considered pre-tax, most people have their insurance through their employers. Thus most purchasers of insurance don't directly know the premium being paid and evaluate it against the benefits received.

The apparent cost of bottom dollar coverage, like only paying $20 for your $100 primary care visit, is reduced, and so people pay to insure things that wouldn't normally be insured. They also don't tend to know the true cost of the visit, the lab tests that are ordered, the medicines, etc. In such a market, of course the price of everything goes up and up.

The question I am puzzling over is, how could bitcoin break that cycle and put price incentives back?

It would probably need to start outside of the USA first and then after proving successful we could work it in here. Other issues with USA is the HIPAA and the legal requirement for information to be private. Some type of blockchain record of my frequent Dr visits are off putting to some/many right now. Many other countries don't have the same laws or hangups about that stuff, so it would be easier to start somewhere else. This could have amazing potential in countries where there is little or no healthcare. There is a surprising amount of people who have smartphones in relatively undeveloped parts of the world.

This idea is kind of like a snowball effect - once it takes hold somewhere, it will take off