I would like to respond to the article “Health Care Harder To Navigate Than Banking, Air Travel, Say ProtectHealth And Prudential”, published on CodeBlue on April 3, 2026.
The comparison between health care, banking, and air travel may sound intuitive at first, but it does not hold up on closer examination. While concerns about navigation and cost transparency are valid, equating health care with transactional services oversimplifies a system that is inherently complex.
In air travel, the destination is known from the outset. A passenger decides where to go, selects a route, and pays a fixed price for a predictable service.
Banking works in a similar way. The objective is clear, whether it is transferring money or applying for a loan, and the process follows a standardised path. These systems function well because both the starting point and the endpoint are defined from the beginning.
Health care does not work like this. Patients do not arrive with a diagnosis. They come with symptoms, which are often vague, overlapping, and sometimes misleading.
The doctor’s first task is not to deliver a service, but to figure out what the problem actually is. This is an evolving process that depends on clinical judgment and cannot be reduced to a fixed pathway.
Take a common example such as abdominal pain. This single symptom can represent anything from a minor, self-limiting condition to a life-threatening emergency.
The doctor has to take a careful history, perform an examination, and decide on appropriate investigations such as blood tests, imaging, or endoscopy. Each step may change the direction of thinking. The “destination” is not known at the start and has to be worked out.
Only after a working diagnosis is reached can a treatment plan be made. Even then, things do not always follow a straight line. Treatment needs to be tailored to the individual, and unexpected complications can occur. Plans may need to change as new information emerges.
This is why the comparison with airline pricing does not quite fit. The suggestion that health care costs should be as predictable as a flight ticket assumes that the journey is already defined.
In reality, health care is a process of discovery. Because we do not know the diagnosis or the full scope of treatment at the beginning, it is not always possible to give a fixed cost upfront. Some degree of variability is unavoidable and reflects the nature of medical care rather than a flaw in the system.
That said, the frustrations patients face are real. Navigating the system can be confusing, and communication around costs and processes can certainly be improved.
These are important areas for reform. But any effort to improve health care needs to recognise its complexity, rather than trying to model it after industries that operate on entirely different principles.
Simple analogies can be appealing, but they risk creating expectations that health care cannot realistically meet. Health care is not a straightforward transaction with a fixed route and price. It is a careful, step-by-step process of finding out what is wrong and deciding how best to manage it.
Any discussion about improving the system should start from that understanding.
The author is a consultant anaesthesiologist.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
