[zaidf]

Why do you think insurance companies play this game if it is not in their interest? I would think they would want private practices to flourish so their patients reduce use of hospitals and in the end, save the insurance company money.

[dave48]

Again, no doctor turns away a patient who has insurance that he takes. Insurance contracts are signed by doctors years in advance. Insurance companies learned long ago that they can get away with being obnoxious as long as they're not so obnoxious that doctors would drop them. They walk that line rather well.

[zaidf]

Got it, and I agree that insurance companies walk the line rather well in getting doctors to accept them.

But at a macro level, don't you think the insurance companies have failed themselves given rise in private practices closing shop or being bought out resulting in insurance companies needing to pay a lot more to hospitals?