[kurthr]

Really, you think there's a market for healthcare?

Try walking into a hospital and asking how much something costs. I can tell you that you won't/can't get an answer in over 60%, specifically because the software they use does not show prices only billing codes! So the person providing care can not find out how much it costs... how are you supposed to choose?

Try calling billing once you have the correct code. I can tell you what happened in my case. I called 4 times and navigated a phone tree for 5 minutes each time waiting on hold. Why did I call 4 times... because they said that I needed to connect to a different number, but would not transfer me. Then the next person I talked to asked me to speak to yet another department. Then that department promised to send me the information (what I was being charged for code=treatment, and what the bill=$$ was for it) but after 4 weeks I hadn't received it. When I called back, I wouldn't leave until they actually looked it up and told me over the phone (which they could have done the first time).

Let's be clear, obfuscating medical costs for customers is a core insurance company competency (like hiring doctors outside of specialty to decline coverage for treatments of patients who's records they have not read- see Aetna investigation). So, if you want to know how much something is going to cost you for treatment, I recommend self-diagnosis. You can bill yourself what you want for it... then you can call the billing department and ask for every single code and figure out which ones should be required to reach your diagnosis and provide treatment. Then you can try to get them to tell you what value is assigned to each billing code. Then you can go to the hospital and tell the nurses and doctors exactly what they should do and what codes to use.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/11/health/aetna-california-inves...

[theseatoms]

> Try walking into a hospital and asking how much something costs. I can tell you that you won't/can't get an answer in over 60%, specifically because the software they use does not show prices only billing codes! So the person providing care can not find out how much it costs... how are you supposed to choose?

Exactly. This is exactly the problem. The current situation bears no resemblance to a market. Price can't seek value.

[monocasa]

How do I shop for prices when I'm bleeding out in the back of an ambulance?

[theseatoms]

What % of medical expenditures does this scenario encompass?

You're describing a corner case that can be, at least partially, planned for ahead of time (by consumers, insurers, a combination of the two, etc).

And sometimes your hand is forced in all sorts of markets. But if enough shoppers are even somewhat price-discerning, the "value per price" that you pay for a given good or service should be significantly lower than it is in the current state of affairs.

[kurthr]

Emergency care (and EOL) represent the majority of all costs for many people. Other than regular check-ups I haven't been to the doctor more than 30 times in the last 30 years. One visit to the emergency room in an ambulance is at least $10k and that is equal to 30 years of $300 visits. A real emergency can easily be several $100k once you figure in recovery. So I can't shop at all for 50-90% of all my spending!

After a heart-attack/car-wreck the ambulance should take me to the closest hospital not the one that happens to be 30 miles farther away and in-network. If I'm EOL care, then I likely have pre-existing conditions and travel limitation that will limit my ability to change plans, much less hospitals.

[FireBeyond]

You want added irony? Insurance has been known to deny ambulance bills because the ride "was not pre approved".

Including Heli EMS from car accident scenes...

[conanbatt]

How do you shop for life insurance if you are dead?