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> Price transparency. Require medical providers to publish a price list for every service they provide, then let there be Expedia for scheduled medical procedur

> Price transparency. Require medical providers to publish a price list for every service they provide, then let there be Expedia for scheduled medical procedures. For providers that service insurance companies, its impossible. The insurance decides what to charge. Price transparency is important for functioning markets, but im unconvinced its a key piece of health service costs. First, it doesnt matter if the doctor charges 100 or 1000, if the insurance covers it. Second, most health-services that matter are insurance-based: its a cost after you got the disease, which changes the decisions you get: if you are on Anthem and get cancer and see cancer treatment is cheaper on Cigna, are you going to change the entire doctor panel that diagnosed you? (Which btw ,is a degrade of medical care). The only person that could benefit from high provider price transparency is insurance companies, since then they can choose to keep or not keep providers in their network: but they already have full price transparency, they get all the claims. The one you want price sensitive is the patient.

AnthonyMouse 8y ago
> For providers that service insurance companies, its impossible. The insurance decides what to charge. First, it doesnt matter if the doctor charges 100 or 1000, if the insurance covers it. That's a fair point -- so fix that. The insurance company wants to decide how much they'll pay, so let them, and let it be on the low side and then let there be lower cost plans that only pay 80% or 65% of even that cost. Then publish the price list and let the customer choose their provider and pay out of pocket any amount above what the insurance company pays. This deal where the customer pays the same amount no matter which provider they use is poison. > Second, most health-services that matter are insurance-based: its a cost after you got the disease, which changes the decisions you get: if you are on Anthem and get cancer and see cancer treatment is cheaper on Cigna, are you going to change the entire doctor panel that diagnosed you? (Which btw ,is a degrade of medical care). Which is another reason why they should stop doing that, and just have a list of services they cover and the amount they pay under your plan. Then you go wherever and get the service and pay the difference between the insurance coverage you bought and the price the provider charges. There should be no such thing as out-of-network. If someone else charges more and you're willing to pay the difference, there you go.

AnthonyMouse 8y ago

> For providers that service insurance companies, its impossible. The insurance decides what to charge. First, it doesnt matter if the doctor charges 100 or 1000, if the insurance covers it. That's a fair point -- so fix that. The insurance company wants to decide how much they'll pay, so let them, and let it be on the low side and then let there be lower cost plans that only pay 80% or 65% of even that cost. Then publish the price list and let the customer choose their provider and pay out of pocket any amount above what the insurance company pays. This deal where the customer pays the same amount no matter which provider they use is poison. > Second, most health-services that matter are insurance-based: its a cost after you got the disease, which changes the decisions you get: if you are on Anthem and get cancer and see cancer treatment is cheaper on Cigna, are you going to change the entire doctor panel that diagnosed you? (Which btw ,is a degrade of medical care). Which is another reason why they should stop doing that, and just have a list of services they cover and the amount they pay under your plan. Then you go wherever and get the service and pay the difference between the insurance coverage you bought and the price the provider charges. There should be no such thing as out-of-network. If someone else charges more and you're willing to pay the difference, there you go.