[mindslight]

The problem is that it's framed as a payment from the insurance company, so people think the insurance is helping with the bill. What has actually happened is the insurer and pharmacy are cooperating to create sham prices/paperwork and confuse the market.

It's even more glaring for post-facto bills from providers, because those prices are being presented on a cost-reimbursement basis (not contractual). The provider is essentially saying "You owe us $500 because that is what it cost to provide your care". But it obviously could not have cost $500 to provide the service, because they're happy to accept $150 in total.

[Guvante]

Providing a discount to insurance companies is not fundamentally bad or nefarious.

Medicare/Medicaid tend to pay less than private insurance, however lots of places accept it because that gives them access to a bunch of potential clients.

Leveraging your user base to get a discount from a provider is normal and expected.

The problem is when insurance companies demand a particular discount and providers given them that discount by raising their prices.

Certainly a 70% discount is a sign of a bad price (assuming it isn't part of a cost normalization scheme where some services get deep discounts and others are paid with little or no discount aka "I get 70% off dangerous surgeries but I will pay 110% of simple ones")

However if instead the normal price was $200 and they accepted $150 to get access to the network that is normal.

[mindslight]

It feels like you're just skipping the core of my points and repeating the justification that has allowed the situation to get this bad. The fake prices and 50-100% discounts are indeed symptoms of a pathological behavior that indicates it's not about true good-faith "discounts".

One straightforward healthcare reform that could be done tomorrow would be to mandate that providers must charge the same price no matter who is paying, rather than the current behavior of operating pricing cartels in league with the insurance companies. This would work even if the government kept giving itself a pass by excepting Medicare.

[Guvante]

And if a provider keeps charging the same amount only now they actually get it because the law requires that insurance companies pay in certain instances?

My point is just that providers raising their prices to give insurance companies a bigger discount is a problem but getting a discount isn't itself flawed.

[mindslight]

You keep outright ignoring my point, and then simply asserting that you don't see a problem. A bill from the provider shows a fake cost that they're demanding you reimburse them, and also a fake payment from the insurance company. Those are lies to make you think you are getting a benefit that you are not actually getting. That's called fraud.