I am reluctant to accept an anti-regulation message from someone whose name seems a likely riff on Ayn Rand, but setting that aside...
I'm also reluctant to look at deregulating hearing aids without looking at some of what the regulations do...
Like, something that came up on HN a few years ago was another thread about hearing aids, and one thing I remember from that was that cheap hearing aids can actually do further damage to a person's ears, because of how they do or don't amplify the sounds appropriately.
Maybe the regulations, in this case, are there to prevent people from paying $38 for a hearing aid that wrecks their sense of hearing further. If that is the case--and I don't know that it is, but I think health equipment merits a degree of caution--then I think that's a good place for regulations.
Very few people would be able to properly evaluate whether a given cheap hearing aid would be one that worked without harm or would be one that caused further hearing loss. Very few. That's exactly the place in society for regulations--when few people are capable of making an informed decision, etc.
It's certainly easy to blame regulations for this and everything wrong with American health care, but I don't know if it's sensible here or in general--or if blaming regulations (and consequently removing them) would actually lead to the outcomes people claim they would. My gut tells me that the problems we have lie elsewhere in the medical system, not in the regulations concerning medical devices or medicines.
I wear hearing aids selected by an audiologist, have probably had some extra damage to my hearing from them, and wish I could buy open hearing aids I could program myself. I don't blame the system for the damage, but do for the restricted choice.
Generally consumer protection by regulation seems to suffer from a form of regulatory capture -- measures that are great at entrenching the existing players get disproportionate emphasis. You end up e.g. restricting the supply of doctors and then not bothering to make them wash their hands. I'm not saying regulation can't ever do net good, but you have to watch it like a hawk, and who has the incentive to?
> Generally consumer protection by regulation seems to suffer from a form of regulatory capture ...
I've heard these theories a lot, but I almost never see much evidence; is there any evidence it applies in this situation?
> doctors
I think it's very important to regulate doctors and medical care. I don't want any quack hanging out a shingle and treating people. The same goes for medical devices.
Earphones aren't regulated and have all the same risks. In fact neither are all the cheap not-quite-hearing-aids. I have one that looks just like an old hearing aid but cost maybe $50. Safety really isn't a risk here any more than it is for consumer goods.
I'm also reluctant to look at deregulating hearing aids without looking at some of what the regulations do...
Like, something that came up on HN a few years ago was another thread about hearing aids, and one thing I remember from that was that cheap hearing aids can actually do further damage to a person's ears, because of how they do or don't amplify the sounds appropriately.
Maybe the regulations, in this case, are there to prevent people from paying $38 for a hearing aid that wrecks their sense of hearing further. If that is the case--and I don't know that it is, but I think health equipment merits a degree of caution--then I think that's a good place for regulations.
Very few people would be able to properly evaluate whether a given cheap hearing aid would be one that worked without harm or would be one that caused further hearing loss. Very few. That's exactly the place in society for regulations--when few people are capable of making an informed decision, etc.
It's certainly easy to blame regulations for this and everything wrong with American health care, but I don't know if it's sensible here or in general--or if blaming regulations (and consequently removing them) would actually lead to the outcomes people claim they would. My gut tells me that the problems we have lie elsewhere in the medical system, not in the regulations concerning medical devices or medicines.