The disconnect between prices and end consumers is itself a huge problem. I should know what care costs before I get it, and I should know how much my instance company is paying on my behalf before I get care.

For prices to be sane we need people being able to compare prices, decide what care they want and can afford, etc. Our prices are so high because its a closed market acting as though it were a free/open market being driven in part by customer decisions.

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SpicyLemonZest a day ago | parent [-]

I think that’s a reasonable model to want, but it’s what we call “preauthorization”, and many patients along with most doctors absolutely hate it. In order to know with certainty what your care will cost and how much your insurance company will pay, the doctor has to contact them in between deciding what treatment you should have and giving you the treatment.

You can and I do solve that annoyance with an HMO, where the doctors and insurance can communicate more effectively because they’re part of the same organization. But that also means it’s difficult or impossible for me to get the kind of care that a normal insurance company would hesitate to approve.

	▲	_heimdall 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Preauthorization is a bit different, and yes I can see care providers hating it. Its possible for a provider to know ahead of time that providing a saline IV costs $60, for example. Its also possible to have health care policies that approve any treatment deemed necessary at any healthcare provider, or at any healthcare provider in network if that concept was still a thing. We don't have to have a preauthorisation step where doctors are expected to ask insurance companies if they will approve a certain treatment for a certain patient before it can be done. That is a particularly terrible implementation if you ask me.