If this works, I assume Obama will ban the arrangement immediately. He doesn’t want socialism to face competition.
Same thing applies with minor procedures in offices and free-standing imaging centers. The prices are one third to one quarter of the hospital cash price. The hospital culture slavishly promotes the regulatory regime and uses regulation and the regulators to kill their competition. That’s why so many of these corporatist administrators are so excited about 0-care, ACOs and the exchanges.