I have a simple solution to bring down the healthcare cost. Solution: force the insurance to cover a certain percentage of the total cost and force the patient to pay for a remaining percentage (say, 5%), instead of a co-payment and third party pay system. In the current system, the patients don't care how much the total cost really is since he/she only pays the co-payment. Thus, in the current environment, patients do not look for cheaper hospitals, and similarly doctors/hospitals do not compete with one another to offer more affordable services. If the patients pay a percentage and are forced to care about the cost, they will look for affordable services, and to attract patients doctors/hospitals will try to lower the costs (by cutting unnecessary tests, etc.).
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