The health care market needs functioning price signals regardless of who is paying. The fact that most providers cannot tell you up front how much something wil

The health care market needs functioning price signals regardless of who is paying. The fact that most providers cannot tell you up front how much something will cost should be plainly illegal. Providers charging different prices depending on who is paying should be plainly illegal. Fraudulent billing that displays a huge fake price and an "adjustment" should be plainly illegal. You can't point to regulations having been relaxed as an indication of much, because it's exactly the wrong regulations that have been removed, while the corrupt-entrenching ones have stayed - "insurance" companies forming cartels of "provider networks" should be blatantly illegal on anti-competitive grounds, but was seemingly viewed as a mechanism of competition back in the 80s or 90s and enshrined into law! Furthermore speaking from personal experience it's not like Medicare is some panacea of needing care -> getting care. That system is full of its own rules limiting what it'll cover, reams of paperwork to justify things as medically necessary, etc. It only seems better because everyone is used to dealing with it and denials seem less opaque, but it's still ultimately rooted in top-down paternalism and controlling care, rather than patient-focused incentives.