2016-04-13

China's Hospital Scalpers

Reuters: Scalped: At China's creaking hospitals, illegal ticket touts defy crackdown
Dodging passing police patrols as part of his daily routine, Yu charges 850 yuan ($131) for a "special care" appointment ticket - almost three times the face value. He told Reuters he keeps 200 yuan from each sale, with the rest of the profit going to hospital insiders who he said help him secure the tickets.

"The city's upper middle class are always willing to pay this amount or even higher - as long as they can get an appointment," Yu said, speaking between frequent phone calls that he said came from would-be clients. In the background, other scalpers competed for custom, shouting out their prices.
This is exactly the same business being done at the registry of deeds, covered in Frantic Flippers Cause Reservation Number Prices to Double in March and Transaction Tax Cut Spurs Bubble Activity in Beijing: ¥1000 For Reservation Number.

In the case of hospitals, it is difficult for a nominally Communist party to do, but the best solution is to officially allow people pay to cut in line and use the money to upgrade care.
Keen to avoid paying scalpers, Cao spent months queuing in hospital lines for repeat tests before doctors eventually said his cancer needed an urgent operation. Cao was then told he would have to begin queuing again: this time for a hospital bed.

...In hindsight, Cao said he wished he had gone to scalpers straight away. Doctors also appear resigned to the practice, as wealth spreads in China and patients accept the reality that paying more will bring speedier treatment.

"(Basic) appointment fees don't reflect the economic value of doctors' skills and experience," said Wu Yuan, an eye doctor at the Peking University First Hospital in Beijing.

"Scalpers are simply selling the doctor's appointment at a price the market is prepared to pay," Wu said. He said the practice was routine but that he had no knowledge of any doctor involvement in ticket resales.

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