This is nonsense that continues the status quo. We were recently trying to understand our options for something time-sensitive, and no one could tell us with an

This is nonsense that continues the status quo. We were recently trying to understand our options for something time-sensitive, and no one could tell us with any certainty it would cost $2k or $20k if insurance denied it. We were fully willing to pay thousands out of pocket (the price insurance apparently usually pays after "negotiations"), but couldn't get any assurance about the cost or even whether they could correctly bill just this one procedure at their out-of-pocket rate (and what that might be) when everything else was with insurance. It's not like we were the first to ever get it done. The system is just full of blatant unmitigated racketeering. A good first step would be banning price discrimination for medical procedures. Right now you get three different prices for "I pay", "insurance pays", and "insurance denies and I pay". People can't tell you what those prices will be. The whole point of insurance is supposed to be to derisk these kinds of decisions, not increase uncertainty and risk. Attempting to use insurance and getting denied can 10x your cost, so what is the purpose of the insurance?