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01 / 05
What Cosmetic Surgery Innovation Can Teach Us About Healthcare Costs

Blog Post | Cost of Services

What Cosmetic Surgery Innovation Can Teach Us About Healthcare Costs

The average time price of 19 procedures has fallen by 50 percent since 1998.

Summary: Hospital services costs have surged, raising questions about the effectiveness of regulation and government intervention in the healthcare industry. To investigate the potential impact of free markets on cost trends, we examined the time prices of common cosmetic surgery procedures, which are elective and typically not covered by insurance. Our analysis reveals a significant decline in the relative time prices of these procedures, indicating increased abundance driven by innovation and market competition.


The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that since 1998, hospital services costs have increased 61 percent faster than average wages and far outpaced consumer price index inflation. This industry is highly regulated, and government restricts supply and subsidizes demand.

Would free markets help to reverse these cost trends? To answer this question, we looked at the time prices of 19 common cosmetic surgery procedures. These procedures are elective, and insurance companies typically don’t provide reimbursements. Cosmetic surgeons also have been relatively free to innovate, and cosmetic surgery centers are globally competitive.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons annually publishes prices for a variety of procedures. We compared the nominal prices from 1998 to 2022 against the average hourly wage rates of unskilled and blue-collar workers. This gave us relative time prices over time.

The average time price fell by 50.3 percent over this 24-year period. For the time it took to earn the money to pay for one procedure in 1998, you could get over two procedures today. Procedure abundance has increased by over 100 percent. The time price of chemical peels and laser hair removal fell the fastest by 87.7 percent and 80.1 percent, respectively. However, two procedure costs increased: upper arm lifts increased by 6.7 percent and facelifts by 1.6 percent.

Bar chart displaying Nominal hourly wage rates from 1998 to 2022

The above analysis compares categories of wage earners over time, but what about individuals? We typically start as unskilled workers and then advance as we acquire more productive skills, knowledge, and experience. Categories remain constant while individuals are upwardly mobile. If we look at an unskilled worker who “upskilled” to a blue-collar worker, cosmetic surgery procedures have become dramatically more abundant.

Graph showing nominal hourly wage rates for different groups of workers, with all groups showing increases from 1998 to 2022.

From 1998 to 2022, nominal unskilled hourly wages increased by 102.8 percent, while blue-collar hourly compensation increased by 91.2 percent. The average between these two categories is 94.7 percent. If you started out in 1998 as an unskilled worker and moved up to a blue-collar worker, your nominal hourly compensation increased by 348.5 percent.

Comparing an upskilling worker’s hourly compensation to the prices of cosmetic procedures indicates that the average time price fell by 78.4 percent. These workers could get 4.63 procedures in 2022 for the time price of one in 1998. Personal cosmetic surgery abundance increased by 363.5 percent for upskilling workers, growing at a 6.6 percent compound annual rate, doubling every 11 years or so.

The figure shows the nominal and time price for various cosmetic procedures from 1998 to 2022.

This article was published at Gale Winds on 2/21/2024.

United Nations Development Programme | Poverty Rates

Poverty in Latin America Fell Significantly Since 2008

“Between 2008 and 2023, multidimensional poverty in Latin America fell significantly—from 45.8% to 25.4%. This steady decline, averaging 1.4% per year, was only interrupted in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic…

The MPI-LA complements traditional income-based measures by incorporating four key dimensions of well-being: housing, health, education, and employment. It goes further by including indicators like job quality, access to social protection, exclusion from the workforce due to unpaid domestic work, and internet connectivity.”

From United Nations Development Programme.

Indian Express | Poverty Rates

Poverty Has Declined for Almost All Indians

“Overall, the estimates reveal a remarkable decline in poverty across India in the last 12 years. In rural areas, poverty declined from 30.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent, while in urban areas, it declined from 26.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent. A similar magnitude of decline has been documented by Surjit Bhalla and Karan Bhasin.”

From Indian Express.

Axios | Motor Vehicles

Uber to Add Volkswagen Robotaxis to Its Growing AV Fleet

“Volkswagen and Uber announced a long-term strategic partnership to deploy thousands of electric, autonomous ID. Buzz minivans on the ride-hailing network across multiple cities, starting in Los Angeles.

Why it matters: It’s the latest in a series of global autonomous vehicle partnerships for Uber, which aims to blend robotaxis with human-driven vehicles on its network.”

From Axios.

New York Times | Motor Vehicles

Major Advances in EV Batteries Are Announced by CATL

“The Chinese manufacturing giant CATL, the biggest supplier of batteries for the world’s electric cars, said on Monday that it had made technological advances..

The biggest surprise by CATL was an announcement about auxiliary batteries for electric cars. The batteries would share space in the underbody of cars, where there is now only one large battery.

The auxiliary battery would be the first commercially available electric vehicle battery that would not use graphite as one of its poles, CATL said.

Removing costly graphite will eventually make the batteries cheaper, after some initial costs, and will allow 60 percent more electricity to be squeezed in each cubic inch of the battery…

CATL … also said it had made more progress in the speed of charging main batteries. The company said its new system would allow an electric vehicle to be charged enough in five minutes to drive 520 kilometers, or 320 miles.”

From New York Times.