The “Cashification” of Healthcare

By David Brooks

FEBRUARY 9, 2015 – It’s understandable that so many people automatically assume that health insurance provides a benefit. After all, we’ve been conditioned for so long to think that insurance, through some arrangement with our employer, is actually picking up the tab. If that’s true, why not go with the steak instead of the chicken, and for that matter, why not throw in dessert?

For anyone who thinks we haven’t been acting like perfect healthcare consumers for the last 30 years, you may want a refresher on basic economics, and go ahead and start with the free-rider problem. Despite the fact that as consumers we frequently behave irrationally, the truth is that we’ve been behaving exactly as expected. Which is to say that, as consumers, when we’re not bearing the direct brunt of the cost of a good or service, not only will we consume freely, but…