Insurance has effects on prices that health providers charge. I wonder if that ICU visit would be as expensive if there was no game to play with insurance and they would be guaranteed to be paid. If I (a for profit corp) knew X% of my customers would only end up paying 25% of the price or less, likely after collections and/or insurance paid some, I’d probably jack my price up, too.
Insurance has effects on prices that health providers charge. I wonder if that ICU visit would be as expensive if there was no game to play with insurance and they would be guaranteed to be paid. If I (a for profit corp) knew X% of my customers would only end up paying 25% of the price or less, likely after collections and/or insurance paid some, I’d probably jack my price up, too.