I cannot second this enough. Nearly every case of bilking I have experienced from healthcare has come from the providers: - My insurance was billed 300k for ou

I cannot second this enough. Nearly every case of bilking I have experienced from healthcare has come from the providers: - My insurance was billed 300k for our first child's birth because the hospital decided to bill my wife's emergency C-section twice (once for her and once for the child). - A dermatologist faked a surgery after my visit so they could get a higher billing code. - The hospital promised us services they didn't actually have, then when complications arose, forced us to use their "preferred" ambulance service to transfer. (Whose billing reputation is so bad that our insurance company automatically assigned us an arbitration firm and told us not to pay the bill). - Our pediatrician's office just recently swapped our appointment details with another kids with the same first name - whoops! I had to call and unscramble the billing codes for them. Insurance companies are powerless - they are legally obligated to respond to the billing codes provided to them. And they live in a competitive market, unlike the hospitals that have legally enforced monopolies. American healthcare is messed up, but part of the reason it is messed up is that the incentives are screwed up and your insurance provider is the only advocate for cost reform.