This week Apple released its iPhone 7, the latest tech marvel from Silicon Valley, which has enjoyed relative freedom from government regulation. In contrast, the healthcare industry, which is controlled by countless regulations and edicts, is floundering. Premiums are expected to rise by double-digits again next year, a problem that was supposed to be solved by the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
What if we could bring the principles of the Silicon Valley to the healthcare industry to bring down prices and improve quality? As Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center, describes in the Learn Liberty video below, this is a trend that’s already well  underway. He provides the example of how patients can now order doctors right from their smartphone—just as they would order an Uber.
With doctors on demand, patients no longer have to wait weeks or take time out of their busy schedules to go to a doctor’s appointment. On-demand house calls also give doctors more time to focus on the patient—raising the quality of care. Just as the upper class used house-calls a century ago, that convenience is now available to everyone thanks to market innovation.
Adam Thierer calls this process “Permissionless Innovation” – innovation that doesn’t have to seek approval from the government to move forward. It’s the process that has allowed for the wondrous products from Silicon Valley, and it’s the lack of this process that is to blame for the stagnant, expensive, and poor quality products and services elsewhere in our lives.