> First off, the US healthcare market wasn't a free market in 1968
Yes, there was still some government interference that made it less of a free market. The beauty of the free market, however, is the closer it is to a free market the better it works. It's pointless to nitpick over just where the line is.
Healthcare outcomes in the US improved throughout the 20th century. There wasn't a magical change in the 1960s. The major government interference started in 1968, and your reference shows things improving throughout the 1960s.
> If vaccine shots hadn't been made free to individuals, uptake would have been far slower
An assumption without evidence. People don't appreciate things they get for free. In fact, the free vaccines seems to have engendered suspicion of the vaccine and lots of resistance to it. I've often suspected that charging for it would have increased vaccination rates.
Besides, in a free market, nothing whatsoever impedes any charity from giving out free stuff.
That said, I'd argue that vaccination against highly infectious diseases is a special case that suggests government involvement as a public good.
Yes, there was still some government interference that made it less of a free market. The beauty of the free market, however, is the closer it is to a free market the better it works. It's pointless to nitpick over just where the line is.
Healthcare outcomes in the US improved throughout the 20th century. There wasn't a magical change in the 1960s. The major government interference started in 1968, and your reference shows things improving throughout the 1960s.
> If vaccine shots hadn't been made free to individuals, uptake would have been far slower
An assumption without evidence. People don't appreciate things they get for free. In fact, the free vaccines seems to have engendered suspicion of the vaccine and lots of resistance to it. I've often suspected that charging for it would have increased vaccination rates.
Besides, in a free market, nothing whatsoever impedes any charity from giving out free stuff.
That said, I'd argue that vaccination against highly infectious diseases is a special case that suggests government involvement as a public good.