How does the presence of insurance factor into healthcare? Are costs higher because it exists?
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Yes. All healthcare would crash to low prices if people actually paid for it directly.
Insurance hides the costs form the consumer, so you end up with people demanding all manner of “healthcare” they don’t need, because they aren’t directly paying for it. And hospitals and doctors have unnecessary procedures and tests just to increase profits.
This, of course, rises costs for everyone, because you have an additional layer of profit motivation at every level, billing, insurance, deductibles, etc.
I mention this, because I just recently got a hospital bill for $158,910 for a recent stay.
With insurance, it “cost” me far less, but the charges for minor things like aspirin or a pain med was astronomical. Want a stool softener? that’s a few hundred. Want an applesauce? $600. Everything is a la cart and they won’t tell you what anything costs when it’s “ordered” for you or you ask for it. They’ll keep the costs rising endlessly.
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