well... prices that individual companies negotiate for services are proprietary. Like any other business. the government should not regulate actuarial sound decisions of any insco. let the price of what you can buy and the features of what you cN buy be competitive.
Competitive, yes. To a certain degree different negotiations may be fine. But in the healthcare industry the prices are very secret and drastically different. If an individual goes to the hospital and tries to find out what things will cost before checking in, it is practically impossible. Same for each step along the way. They have no idea what anything costs until you have checked out, gone home, and get the gigantic bill in the mail.
That is not competition. There is no ability to shop around. An exception can be made for a few common procedures, but for the most part it is a total racket where they take the most vulnerable people and basically charge them any darn thing they want to — AFTER THE FACT.
I guess my biggest complaint is that it is all distorted and uncompetitive for the individual, you know, the guy actually receiving the service.
It is not like you are Bayer supplying Walmart which sells 10,000,000 a year asprin units and that mom and pop store that sells 100 asprin units so you offer a lower wholesale to Walmart than to mom and pop. I am talking about the guy with stage 4 cancer who is in a rush for treatment, must pay it himself, and can get NO ONE to tell him what it will cost until AFTER the hospital stay is over. Not even a ballpark guess.
We are talking about sick, desperate people who have not the time to play games. Now even the dude with insurance is ONE GUY needing the same services. He just has someone else paying who knows how to bully negotiate. But because of that, Joe Desperado gets a jacked up price when he does finally get the bill -— AFTER THE FACT.
It is just wrong. That is not competition the way it is suppose to work. It is just back room hired-bully negotiations where the little guy gets squashed — during a time he is least able to handle it.