LOOKING FOR A MARKET TEST.

Tonight's feel-good story at the end of NBC's nightly news features a former debt collector who continues to buy accounts receivable at a discount only to retire the debts using charitable contributions.

The Good Samaritan is able to buy these accounts for pennies on the dollar.  Currently, the charity is reviewing the case files, and delivering good news to some people, but not taking applications from indebted patients for relief.

What sort of margin are health care businesses maintaining in their prices, in order for such deep discounting to be possible?  What is the role of third-party payments, or of quasi-perfect price discrimination, in establishing that margin?  Are those discounts representative of the factoring of receivables in other lines of business?

There is no shortage of interesting research questions, in health economics, or in any other kind of economics.