As well as an outright ban on “cost shifting”.
There wouldn’t be any cost shifting if we didn’t have fixed pricing from Medicare, Medicaid and the large insurers. In a sense we do have menu pricing; it’s fixed and a part of the Medicare, Medicaid fee schedules.
Remember when Nixon did price controls? We had something similar when business gave new names to their products. Butchers created new cuts of beef and charged what they wanted.
If you really want prices to come down, the share that the individual pays must go up. It’s an incontrovertible fact that people are always more careful about spending their own money than someone else’s money (i.e., insurance company, government)
The massive "cost drivers" are bad-debt...people who don't pay their co-pays, and charity-care....people who have no intention of paying anything for their "free healthcare". They are the parasites, the denizens of the ER waiting room, sucking up the resources of the most expensive facilities in the hospital.
And yes, in addition to what you said, the governments are indeed deadbeat debtors.
It’s an incontrovertible fact that people are always more careful about spending their own money than someone else’s money
And that's exactly why the medical-welfare-parasites should be required a level of co-pay....even if it's only 20 bucks. That would likely curtail "over utilization".
That, plus they should not be allowed access to the ER, unless they are having a medical emergency. They should be "triaged" to another building....the free clinic....staffed by short-tempered veteran nurses and nurse practitioners.
If you really want prices to come down, the share that the individual pays must go up.
Actually, under the ACA, the current high deductibles and copays are pretty steep...even unrealistic, but you are correct, patients need some "skin in the game". After all, that's what HSAs are all about.