You don't buy your car insurance from your boss... or homeowners insurance... why should you buy health insurance?
This took the marketplace out of the equation.
And worse was ‘co-pays’. No matter where you go, or what they charge, you only pay the same price- your ‘co-pay’
So why bother to shop around?
I had a babysitter who needed to go see a doctor for a bad scratch (literally, just a scratch) that had gotten a little red and infected.
The Doctor walked in, took a look, and walked out telling the nurse what to prescribe. He was in the room for less than 10 seconds. He charged $400. When I called to help her out (and complain) they said it was not the length of time but the QUALITY of the service...
Then, when she went to get her anti-biotic they filled her prescription with some brand name drug- and wanted to charge her ANOTHER $400. When I told them she had no insurance, they re-filled the prescription with a generic drug (same thing- only generic brand) and charged $20.
Only in a screwed up system where you don't see the costs are they able to charge either $400 or $20 for the same thing.
And last but not least, is the endless government regulations that FORCE the insurance companies to cover things the government mandates they must cover.
For example, imagine you made a drug that allowed men to have sex... Do you think there might be a market for that? A BIG market? And maybe it would be possible to mass-produce it for pennies?
Or is it more profitable for them to get the government to tell insurance companies they MUST cover the cost of viagra, so they can sell it for $10 a pill.
> “When it was made an EMPLOYER ‘benefit’ is when this all started.”
Yes, the start of the unholy alliance between employers and doctors was a result of FDR’s wage freeze that caused employers to offer doctor visits and other health benefits for the purpose of attracting and retaining top employees.