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Need Surgery on a Budget? The Free Market is Here to Help

Keith Smith, the founder of and an anesthesiologist at the Oklahoma Surgery Center, was recently on EconTalk, a podcast from the Library of Economics and Liberty at Stanford University. The Oklahoma Surgery Center is unusual in that they don't deal with insurance companies, they do post all-inclusive prices on their web site, and they typically charge far less for the same procedures compared to regular hospitals. Time magazine interviewed a patient who had total knee replacement done there for $19,000. The average price in the US is $57,000. The actual cost to the hospital? At one, it turned out to be $10,550.

Dr. Smith and host Russ Roberts discuss the surgery center and the US health care system in this mind-blowing episode.

Sources:
"Keith Smith on Free Market Health Care." Keith Smith and Russ Roberts, EconTalk, November 18, 2019. https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-care/
"What Happens when Doctors Only Take Cash." Haley Sweetland Edwards, Time, January 26, 2017. https://time.com/4649914/why-the-doctor-takes-only-cash/
"Understanding Knee Replacement Costs: What's on the Bill?" Samuel Greengard, Healthline, October 23, 2017. https://www.healthline.com/health/total-knee-replacement-surgery/understanding-costs#1
"What Does a Knee Replacement Cost? The Stunning Story from One Hospital." Yuval Rosenberg, The Fiscal Times, August 22, 2018. https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2018/08/22/What-Does-Knee-Replacement-Really-Cost-Stunning-Story-How-One-Hospital-Figured-It-Out


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