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Originally Posted by EaseUp
This is incorrect. There is extreme control over hospital charges.
Example: You have no insurance, and you need an operation. The first thing you should do is get an estimate of the charges from the hospitals and start negotiating. Let's say your estimate is $25 k.
The insurance companies will already have negotiated a price for their customers. It will probably (no exaggeration) be $15k or less. That should be the starting point of your negotiations. This IS a business. Therefore, you need to be an informed consumer. It isn't difficult, except in the case of emergencies.
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I agree with much of what you write, and I also think there is little competition and therefore little free market control of hospital charges.
I recently had to use the services of my local hospital's ER (about 30 miles away). The bill was reduced 50% because my insurance company is one of their preferred providers and it was still way too high for what they did. They would not negotiate the price with me and I suspect that if I had no insurance I would not be able to negotiate like an insurance company can.
Also when you are badly injured you are in no position to stop and negotiate prices. There is little you can do except pay whatever they charge and they have little reason to not charge very high prices since there is little competition.