[James C. Bennett]

I think that’s the mess that the entire insurance industry / medical industry here is vilified for.

Same procedure gets charged $2000 to the insurer vs. $350 if upfront?

That’s so wrong, it’s amazing riots haven’t started over such theft.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Medical industry cost-shifting is at the heart of the affordability problems, and despite the public chaos the industry has no intention of giving up this kind of excessive billing. It will take a repeal of all the anti-trust exemptions they have bought themselves over the years through their hired legislators before any real systemic fix can be put in place. Which is the major stupidity of both ObamaCare and single-payer- attacking the insurers (the symptom) instead of the problem.

A healthy blast of genuine free-market medical services competition would solve the problem - fast.

[FreedomPoster]

While the provider may charge $2000 initially, what generally happens is the $2000 gets negotiated down by the insurer to something like reasonable, close to the $350. The guy who gets screwed is the man with no insurance (and thus no system to negotiate down the “full list price” rates) who has some assets, who gets socked for full price.

[EDINVA]

The hospital charges reflect the ‘stiffing’ they get, the staggering number of uninsured patients they have to treat, those who don’t pay their co-pays (per the topic of this thread), and lawsuits. In DC almost all the local hospitals (vs. university hospitals) closed over the past 20 years because the critical mass of uninsured patients had been met and surpassed. I understand LA has a similar problem

Congress passed legislation requiring hospitals to treat anyone who shows up in the ER. Go spend a Friday night at your local ER. Abuse beyond comprehension. Private facilities that do x-rays/CT scans/MRI’s, etc. are not affected by that same onerous burden.

Unfortunately, the thievery starts with the patients.