Doctors aren't much better at picking the best medical treatments than laypersons
In recent years, the idea has spread that forcing consumers to pay more for healthcare - giving them "skin in the game" is the usual mantra - will prompt them to become more discerning medical shoppers.
The goal is to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system by saddling consumers with higher costs if they opt for less useful or more overpriced services. Experts have identified numerous flaws with this concept, as we'll get to in a bit.
But a
