[JamesBarney]

Health insurance merges help drive down costs.

Provider merges drive up costs.

Health insurance is the buyer of medical care, so when they are monopsony (buyer side monopoly) they drive down costs.

[andrewlgood]

They also reduce choice and supply. They get to decide who gets what treatments. The death panel analogies sound ominous, but at the end of the day they are accurate. Someone has to decide what will be covered. For most people, if it is not covered, it won't be done.