[jmspamerton]

The fact that the hospital doesn't know what a procedure costs (they make it up based on deals with medicare, medicaid, and individual insurance companies) should give you a hint.

Yes, the patient needs skin in the game. People need to take care of their own health. Most procedures are given to grossly unhealthy people.

Yes, completely privatize it. Make people pay for their care so their daily decisions are weighed against what affect it will have on their overall health.

[ceejayoz]

> Most procedures are given to grossly unhealthy people.

Well, yeah. That's the idea behind "medically necessary". We don't do elective heart transplants on healthy people for funsies.

[vjvjvjvjghv]

“ The fact that the hospital doesn't know what a procedure costs (they make it up based on deals with medicare, medicaid, and individual insurance companies) should give you a hint.”

The hint here is that the random pricing needs to stop. Same procedure for the same price. No market can work if participants don’t know the actual price. Insurance and hospitals probably have a very good idea but patients are being kept totally in the dark. You are expected to just accept what this opaque machinery comes up with.

[Sohcahtoa82]

So what if someone gets cancer or some other potentially fatal disease despite eating healthy, exercising, not smoking, etc, and they can't afford to pay for treatment?

They just get to die, or what?