In the 2019 podcast episode, "EconTalk: Keith Smith on Free Market Health Care", and aspect of entrepreneurship that I found interesting was prices. In the podcast, hosted by Russ Roberts, Keith Smith who runs the Surgery Center of Oklahoma talks about how he and a friend started up a surgery clinic that does not take any sort of insurance as payment and which is completely transparent and posts all of their prices online for anyone to see. The pricing for the clinic is also bundled, meaning that whatever procedure that you may need done, the pricing covers everything, including stuff like physical therapy which is needed after some procedures. Keith explains that the pricing of the clinic is cheaper than that of a normal hospital, and that the prices actually haven't changed basically at all since he started the clinic 20 years prior. They are able to do this because they do not use insurance companies which Keith explains are all part of essentially a big scam in collaboration with the hospitals which are involved with them to try to make as much profit as they can from each situation. Keith and his clinic found out that the pricing of the procedures they provide could be drastically lower from those of normal hospitals while also making enough profit. The reason that this is entrepreneurial is because this free market type of healthcare is very new and different from the system that most people go through today, which both Keith and Russ agree is very distorted. Keith and the rest of the team behind the Surgery Center of Oklahoma have found a way to make the system much better for both the physicians and the patients.
The reason that this is so interesting is because of how much cheaper the price for a certain surgery can be compared to that at a standard hospital. In the podcast, Keith talks about how a lot of people come from out of state or even out of the country because of the pricing, as well as the wait times. Some people who desperately need surgery might have to sit on a waitlist or approval from their insurance or whatever, so they would rather go to Keith's clinic because the wait times are very short and the pricing is much better.
This aspect of entrepreneurship positively affects society, as entrepreneurs can find interesting and unique solutions to help bring prices down. In the instance of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, by cutting out the insurance companies they have helped many people get the care they need for a price much more doable. Society helps this aspect of entrepreneurship as more and more people continue to use free market healthcare providers, however the insurance companies and the hospitals of the past will continue to try and stifle this new approach by slowing down the growth of the amount of free market clinics available. Society can also stifle this aspect by some people not supporting the new system. As described in the podcast, many people just continue to go through insurance companies because they do not understand the system and they don't really care to try something new. This is very similar to the "Joy" film and how most people failed to see the value behind a new type of mop: A lot of people have just not quite seen or understood the value behind free market healthcare. The interaction between this aspect of entrepreneurship and society is one in which all of these free market healthcare clinics have to deal with many different barriers of entry as described by Keith, yet they are growing still at an impressive rate. Insurance companies refuse to work with clinics where they cannot maximize their profits, and now successful free market clinics refuse to work with insurance companies. Keith explains that many of the old hospitals are actually involved with the new transparent pricing methods and are just choosing to stay behind the scenes as to not get caught by the big insurance companies that they already work with. As you can see, the interaction is quite a fluid one.
