In the Japanese health care system, a government panel sets the prices for all medical goods and services. Private providers and private insurers must then mana

In the Japanese health care system, a government panel sets the prices for all medical goods and services. Private providers and private insurers must then manage their business to be profitable against known, fixed prices, and the panel is responsible for setting prices that allow for profitability while preventing gouging and rent-seeking. They have private providers, employer-provided private insurance, and somehow manage to come in at around half the cost of the US system, for universal coverage and some of the best outcomes in the world. If we used fixed prices, as Japan does, this sort of regulated transparency would be unnecessary.