The real tragedy of the health care industry is that as a consumer, you have practically zero ability to price procedures and materials and to select a competit

The real tragedy of the health care industry is that as a consumer, you have practically zero ability to price procedures and materials and to select a competitive provider based on that price. Instead, you select a provider based on "does my insurance cover them yes/no". At least with car dealerships, you can make them fight to give you a better price than the guy across the street. The insurance industry has practically eliminated the pressure of competition from the part of the medical industry that they care about, which allows them to effectively fix prices.