THE MORAL-HAZARD MYTH

The bad idea behind our failed health-care system.

This is a great article (very interesting and highly readable) that talks about how our inflated perception of the role moral hazard plays in health insurance has led to the failure of our health system in comparison to those countries who don't share our obsession with moral hazard. Best paragraph from the article IMO:

The moral-hazard argument makes sense, however, only if we consume health care in the same way that we consume other consumer goods, and to economists like Nyman this assumption is plainly absurd. We go to the doctor grudgingly, only because we’re sick. “Moral hazard is overblown,” the Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt says. “You always hear that the demand for health care is unlimited. This is just not true. People who are very well insured, who are very rich, do you see them check into the hospital because it’s free? Do people really like to go to the doctor? Do they check into the hospital instead of playing golf?”