> So why don't insurance companies seem to be driving the costs down? They are driving down costs -- as the OP mentions elsewhere in this thread, while he was

> So why don't insurance companies seem to be driving the costs down? They are driving down costs -- as the OP mentions elsewhere in this thread, while he was billed nearly $49k for facilities/equipment, the insurance company only paid $15k. There certainly are a lot of rich doctors and hospital executives who are being paid ludicrous amounts of money (especially considering the hospitals themselves are billed as not-for-profit), but the insurance companies are making money hand-over-fist in the current regime.