Is there a word in economics for an entire industry that endeavors to keep their customers so uninformed that they are unable to force that industry to price their services competitively?
In my twenties I had to have 4 wisdom teeth pulled. After the tolerating the discomfort for as long as I could I began to shop for a dentist. They gave me prices with the understanding that the price might change based on circumstances. Frankly, it sounded like contractor pricing. I settled on an appropriately priced dentist and had my wisdom teeth pulled.
Later, when my first child was born we paid cash as we proceeded through the nine months. We had no health care plan. We were living in Charlotte NC at the time and with several hospitals servicing the area I assumed the prices would be competitive. As a result I didn't shop. The experience was good and the total cost of child birth was within expectation.
When my second child was still waiting to be born some circumstances had changed. We were no longer living in Charlotte, but rather a small town with one hospital and were still choosing to live without a health care plan. Being that we were living in a one hospital town, we felt pricing was in order. We were within 30 minutes of a larger city with multiple hospitals and I wondered if our hospital might be overcharging relative to the hospitals in the city. I never found the answer to my questions, though. I went to three hospitals as phoning was unproductive, but was unable to get even an estimate of what a standard child birth procedure might cost. The hospitals appeared to be unable to even look up a price. They looked at me as if I were nuts and I, of course, returned the look. They had a store without price tags! 'Don't worry, we'll bill you later' was their attitude. All. Three. Hospitals.
I was effectively prohibited from shopping.
What is this? It is not a monopoly as there were multiple hospitals presumably competing. They didn't seem to be colluding in an effort to set an artificial price either.
Is there a word in economics for an entire industry that endeavors to keep their customers so uninformed that they are unable to force that industry to price their services competitively?
out
In my twenties I had to have 4 wisdom teeth pulled. After the tolerating the discomfort for as long as I could I began to shop for a dentist. They gave me prices with the understanding that the price might change based on circumstances. Frankly, it sounded like contractor pricing. I settled on an appropriately priced dentist and had my wisdom teeth pulled.
Later, when my first child was born we paid cash as we proceeded through the nine months. We had no health care plan. We were living in Charlotte NC at the time and with several hospitals servicing the area I assumed the prices would be competitive. As a result I didn't shop. The experience was good and the total cost of child birth was within expectation.
When my second child was still waiting to be born some circumstances had changed. We were no longer living in Charlotte, but rather a small town with one hospital and were still choosing to live without a health care plan. Being that we were living in a one hospital town, we felt pricing was in order. We were within 30 minutes of a larger city with multiple hospitals and I wondered if our hospital might be overcharging relative to the hospitals in the city. I never found the answer to my questions, though. I went to three hospitals as phoning was unproductive, but was unable to get even an estimate of what a standard child birth procedure might cost. The hospitals appeared to be unable to even look up a price. They looked at me as if I were nuts and I, of course, returned the look. They had a store without price tags! 'Don't worry, we'll bill you later' was their attitude. All. Three. Hospitals.
I was effectively prohibited from shopping.
What is this? It is not a monopoly as there were multiple hospitals presumably competing. They didn't seem to be colluding in an effort to set an artificial price either.
Is there a word in economics for an entire industry that endeavors to keep their customers so uninformed that they are unable to force that industry to price their services competitively?
out
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