Quoting Eric Crampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> One of the recurring suggestions that comes up in the downward spiral of
> Canadian medicare is that patients receive an itemized bill for service,
> showing exactly how much each thing cost. They wouldn't have to pay the
> bill, since it's all covered by the government, but the intuition behind
> the proposal is similar -- people might be more frugal if they know what
> things cost (even if they don't have to pay a dime directly). As far as I
> know, that proposal hasn't gone anywhere yet though.
I'm not a very good observer of human behavior, but isn't it at least possible
that in fact the opposite effect might prevail? Since these are 'free' services
which come out of tax dollars, won't some people be eager to 'get my share
back'? It might be like the person I talked to the other day who had to have
her car towed because she (embarrassingly) ran out of gas. "But at least," she
said, "I got back all my triple-A premiums for this year - and then some!"
--
Susan Hogarth
"If we cannot adjust our differences peacefully we are less than human."
- F. Herbert
