> I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only

> I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only. This is a non-starter because older people with Medicare coverage - the people who get sick more often - would have to pay their Medicare premium, supplement premium, and the cash price. In principle, I agree with you, sort of. Going to an immediate care center in my town for example costs $100 if you pay cash, but if you have insurance, they bill $300 and the insurance pays $100-150 (the rest gets written off). My suspicion, but I don't know this for sure, is that when a hospital bills say $1000 and the insurance pays $300, the hospital gets to take the $700 difference as a loss, ie, it lowers their taxes. So in this case instead of having to pay income taxes on $300, the hospital gets a tax deduction for $400. Anyone know if that is the case?