Why is it that things like going to the dentist or doctor can be charged on a “sliding scale” for low income people but other necessities don’t have this same sliding scale structure?
In: Economics
In most cases it’s because a charity or government grant is paying for part of the cost and will be reimbursing the people who do the work based on that scale. For foodstuff it makes more sense to use food banks and EBT.
Housing has assistance stuff but it’s certainly rarer and often less useful. This is mostly because there tends to be more opposition to it. People who own all of the housing stand to lose value if the demand is reduced. They’ll do anything to keep housing as expensive as possible.
Because medical prices are completely made up bullshit so they can charge as much as possible and negotiate down. They know a poor person can’t pay $30,000 to have a baby, for example, so they make up a different price.
I don’t know how it works for everyone but I have a couple friends who are therapists. It’s just a personal choice they made. They take less money from lower income clients so that they can provide services to lower income clients. They choose to make less money because they want to be accessible.
I sort of question the premise of your question. Pretty much all necessities have some kind of subsidy program. Food stamps are to subsidize food for those with low incomes. Government-subsidized housing are for those earning less than a certain amount. Many colleges offer need-based financial assistance. Even utilities will oftentimes have assistance programs for low-income individuals. I suppose you could say the structure for each of those programs varies depending on the type of transactions but there are assistance programs imbedded everywhere; not just in the medical field.
Doctors, dentists, therapists who use a sliding scale are all professionals who are essentially donating their time for the betterment of society, at the cost of their income. Few people or companies are willing to do that.
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