[pauljurczak]

I think that the more fundamental problem is price opacity. Insurance contracts make price discovery technically more complex, but not impractical. A medical service provider can legally tell you (in many or most states) that they will not disclose the price of the procedure they will perform on you. That kills free market mechanisms, which could drive the costs down. Most people don't even care, thinking "insurance will pay for it".

[sharemywin]

price discovery is irrelevant in medical procedures. who wants to go to the cheapest doctor to get heart surgery. the whole concept of pricing in a medical setting is perverse. Doctors are supposed to help the most in need first not based on who can pay more. the hypocritic oath doesn't say anything about pricing.

[pauljurczak]

Well, yes. In a better parallel universe. In our real world, the healthcare industry in the USA is a for-profit business with few partial exceptions. The costs are ruinous and the trend is not sustainable. It is naive not to think about costs, unless you are wealthy. The cost of blood tests done at a local hospital's lab will almost always be much higher than at a large national network like Labcorp or Quest. Even after insurance contract repricing. Quality is the same. Why would you pay more? The doctor belonging to a local hospital network will be inclined to send your blood work there and use "Hippocratic Oath doesn't say anything about pricing" as an excuse...