4 ms·

This sounds like an incentive to increase costs (20% of 2X > 20% of X).

• lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Assuming no competitor exist, which they do for many health insurance situations. There would be plenty of competitors to choose from if everyone was required to choose from healthcare.gov.
  • baq 6y ago
    incompatible with 'already low margin' - this suggests that there isn't much more any competitor could do to offer lower prices. besides, i think the issue is the cost of the underlying procedures - doctors charge maximum what the insurance company will pay instead of what the patient would pay. there are plenty of stories where a patient is billed $100 but if they say they don't want it out of insurance the price drops to $40 or whatever. another elephant in the room is that you can't pick your healthcare provider if you're unconscious. this part of the US system is little more than a scam.
    • lotsofpulp 6y ago
      The issue is the low supply of healthcare. The way to lower prices is to increase supply or decrease demand.