Althouse: "Weird things happen when you take price out of the equation for consumers. For one thing, they stop looking for the best price."

January 25, 2013

"Weird things happen when you take price out of the equation for consumers. For one thing, they stop looking for the best price."

Yes. Obvious. I know. But this is NPR talking, which is what struck me.

(The topic is the breast pumps that must be paid for by health insurance companies under Obamacare.)

40 comments:

bagoh20 said...: Yes now that they have it, they will start to notice whats wrong with it. Kind of like picking up a live rattlesnake.; 1/25/13, 4:59 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Free breast pumps was actually part of our Thanksgiving conversation this year. My niece in law is a new mum, the first in the next generation. She had a breast pump already, but she and her young mom friends were all getting new breast pumps because they were free. Some of the mums don't pump, but you might as well get one because it's free.; 1/25/13, 5:03 PM
Seeing Red said...: It's free stuff, that's what they voted for.; 1/25/13, 5:03 PM
Seeing Red said...: wait until they end up in the landfills.; 1/25/13, 5:04 PM
Sydney said...: You can tell it's NPR because they think it's weird instead of obvious.; 1/25/13, 5:10 PM
Jane the Actuary said...: The comments at NPR are pretty clueless: in their world, women formula-feed because they can't afford a breastpump, so providing one with no out-of-pocket cost will cause women to change their minds. Uh, no -- it'll just mean more convenience (for stay-at-home moms who otherwise make do with a cheap model) or some financial savings (for the mom who otherwise would have forked out the $300 for a Medela electric), or a big waste of money (if all the women who breastfeed for the first couple weeks buy breastpumps because "they're free anyway" but never use it).; 1/25/13, 5:12 PM
edutcher said...: There's always Cabela's.; 1/25/13, 5:14 PM
Sorun said...: I suspect that some senator's spouse is making money off of breast pumps.; 1/25/13, 5:15 PM
Big Mike said...: Common sense is "weird" to NPR? Who knew?; 1/25/13, 5:16 PM
bagoh20 said...: I'll get one just because they're free. I'm a hairy 44 B cup.; 1/25/13, 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...: NPR....we need to talk.

Get back to your core mission:

Feminism/Gender Equity
Diversity/Multiculturalism
Mostly Regulated Markets
Equality, often of outcome
Environmentalism

Obama does not approve of you pointing out the enormous flaws of Obamacare. Bureaucrats and single payer true believers are busy ensuring us the technocratic, healthy, fair, equal and just future we all deserve.

Stay on message!; 1/25/13, 5:22 PM
Anonymous said...: And seriously, where do I sign up for a free breast pump and an Obamaphone?; 1/25/13, 5:23 PM
Peter said...: I wonder how many of the "free" digital TV converters the federal government paid for (all made in China, of course) were never used.

"Free" is indeed a radical price. If they priced these even at just a few percent of the actual cost, they'd probably see a huge reduction in demand.; 1/25/13, 5:26 PM
DADvocate said...: This is "weird?" Shows you what dumb asses work at NPR. Most people I know will spend more if the cost isn't coming out of their pockets.

We did a study for a breast pump that a woman could wear under her clothes and walk around and do normal things while having her milk expressed. Do they make this type now? I still can't get the image out of my head that some day I'll be walking down the street and, as a woman passed me the going the other direction, I'd hear a slight electronic hum and barely audible "ssssssip" coming from under her blouse.; 1/25/13, 5:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Can I use my EBT card for the breast pump, or how does this work?

Do I have to "activate" first and sign up on a list?

As many of you know, I've been activating my organ, and organizing my action.; 1/25/13, 5:27 PM
DADvocate said...: In the spirit of gender equity, if women get free breast pumps, men should be able to get free pumps of another sort.; 1/25/13, 5:34 PM
Anonymous said...: If I get caught using the EBT card at a gentlemen's club, can I call in for another one using the Obamaphone?

Can I call in for a breast pump for one of the girls at said gentlemen's club...with my Obamaphone?

Can I junk my grandpa's sweet 1984 Lincoln Continental as part of the Cash 4 Clunkers program, and get paid in breast pumps?

Can I turn in my "assault rifle' for some breast pumps, since the doctor may be asking anyways?

Can we somehow work in the national parks and some kids shamelessly used as political props, and maybe the NLRB?

So many options, here.; 1/25/13, 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...: If you get one of the first 100 free breast pumps, Sandra Fluke will be signing it at a meet and greet at a Sak N Save somewhere near Reno.

You're welcome, America.; 1/25/13, 5:41 PM
KCFleming said...: NPR is free, so why do they keep asking me to donate money?

Weird!; 1/25/13, 5:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, but they'll never connect it to the other behaviors of ACA and other Democrat programs that are economically unsound.

It's hard to give up the dream of Utopia.

BTW, Utopia is a pretty interesting show from across the pond. Reminds me of Life on Mars.; 1/25/13, 5:46 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: When we needed a breast pump two years ago we rented one for four months. What is so complicated or burdensome about that.

Obamacare will require new pumps which are not cheap. After you're done with it, then what? The aftermarket for breast pumps, er, sucks, when the idiot government will give you a new one for free.

Environmental, economic, and fiscal insanity.; 1/25/13, 5:54 PM
Seeing Red said...: Free Obamacare put my dad out of business and all I got was this lousy breast pump.; 1/25/13, 6:02 PM
Amartel said...: OMG, this water is, like, totally wet.

Newsflash: free stuff isn't free.

The faux intellectual elite.
Unintended consequences? Wot?

Like how are the next generations going to pay for all this largesse we've voted to ourselves on credit? Do you think they'll want to slave to pay off our debt in exchange for nothing but a heritage of reality shows and grievance group competitions? Do you think they might go looking for sources of national revenue that would appall our current elite overlords of idiocracy? Like, oidontknow, shale oil?; 1/25/13, 6:10 PM
McTriumph said...: I said this in another post, health insurance drives increases in cost. That is why Obamacare will drive cost even faster.; 1/25/13, 6:12 PM
Jane the Actuary said...: From my google search on "breast pumps covered by insurance":

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a39425455/insurance_covered_breast_pumps

Moms on this bulletin board site are reporting that supplies are short because so many moms are happily ordering them.

Best anecdote: "we switched insurance so I'll order a second one, so I don't have to carry it back and forth from work!"; 1/25/13, 6:35 PM
Sydney said...: In all seriousness, this is what is wrong with our healthcare system. The consumer is totally oblivious to the cost of care. When people bitch and moan about the high price of health insurance, they have no idea that the cost is driven by their consumption. Obamacare has just ratcheted the whole thing up into the stratosphere.; 1/25/13, 6:58 PM
cf said...: This has been the obvious problem with government care, like Medicare, for years. Perhaps if NPR could have considered Paul Ryan's proposals instead of seeing, Eek! A Repugnican! they might have been less surprised.

On the other hand, these guys do Nothing that doesn't serve the Overlords, so, what might this be about? Perhaps it is a Drip.Drip preparing us one step at a time, stay calm everyone, oops! we may not get all the Unicorns delivered after all. Bad luck.; 1/25/13, 7:25 PM
Phil 314 said...: What is this "price" of which you speak?; 1/25/13, 7:42 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Oh man, this reminds me of my bicycle pump. It was the kind you use your feet to stabilize while you go pumpitypumpitypumpity fft fft fft. 30 lbs pressure, but measuring the pressure made the thing go ffft and there went some pressure you were measuring so eventually you just go, "Tire's hard enough."; 1/25/13, 7:46 PM
Richard Dolan said...: Taking price out of the equation creates (by definition) a tragedy of the commons. Except at NPR they don't get the tragedy part. They should listen to Bobby Jindal, and stop trying to become the new stupid party. But that would require NPR to listen to him by covering Jindal. Instead, they just want to make him into an Indo-Catholic nut.; 1/25/13, 8:43 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: In the spirit of gender equity, if women get free breast pumps, men should be able to get free pumps of another sort.

That's not my bag, baby.; 1/25/13, 8:45 PM
Hagar said...: "Free" breast pumps can't be good news for the LaLeche League.
Talk about conflicted emotions!; 1/25/13, 9:18 PM
Brew Master said...: Where are the lefties defending this?; 1/25/13, 10:42 PM
Revenant said...: You can tell it's NPR because they think it's weird instead of obvious.

You took the words right out of my mouth, sydney.; 1/25/13, 10:57 PM
Chip S. said...: There must be a German word for the feeling you get when some ass stumbles upon something utterly obvious and proclaims it as a surprising insight.

Gesichthandfläche?; 1/25/13, 11:04 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Most of the pumps won't even be used.; 1/25/13, 11:18 PM
FleetUSA said...: From what I have heard when wheelchairs and walkers are free, the most expensive are always chosen.

Lame brain economics 101; 1/26/13, 1:08 AM
FleetUSA said...: From what I have heard when wheelchairs and walkers are free, the most expensive are always chosen.

Lame brain economics 101; 1/26/13, 1:10 AM
Rusty said...: Richard Dolan said...
Taking price out of the equation creates (by definition) a tragedy of the commons.

And the truly sad part is that there are educated people, some of whom post here, that don't get it.
To them it's some kind of sorcery.; 1/26/13, 8:20 AM
Comanche Voter said...: Every once in a blue moon (or less frequently than that) someone at NPR actually smells the coffee.

Mostly they're asleep in liberal land.; 1/26/13, 8:41 AM