Get the government out of the medical system and prices will drop up to 86%.
Actually just getting the government out won’t do it. You have to get ALL third-party payers out and go back to a cash-as-you-go basis.
Right now, with all of the paperwork and ridiculous coding games that go on in billing insurers, the providers of course are going to massively inflate prices to cover for those that will be denied for BS reasons, or sit as open receivables for 200 days while the games go on.
Getting the government out is the first step. Leftists are afraid of free market medicine, saying that there can be no free market in medicine, by the nature of the problem. I disagree. In the internet era, there can be cost transparency, quality comparisons, ratings etc.
Medical costs are so high because of government regulations and government involvement, together with the "insure everything" mentality, where the consumer is insulated from cost. Catastrophic insurance is good. Most medical care should be cash on the barrel head, like everything else.