Medicare Pulls Back Curtain On Hospital Bills

[MadMan1978]

Interesting article

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013...paign=20130508

[Wickabee]

When I worked in a glass shop, I ran through the insurance claims on automotive glass. Here's an approximate example of insurance pricing vs stright up payment.
Insurance is your $200 deductible plus around $300-$500 depending on the vehicle.
Straight up you're probably going to pay around $400.

For auto insurance we have a govt. agency (ICBC) which everyone has to buy their basic auto insurance from (through any private insurance company). All other insurance (comprehensive, etc) is offered through ICBC but you can buy it privately anywhere.
On the comprehensive claims I used to run through, ICBC sets the pricing. They send out a list of every piece of automotive glass on the market and what they will pay for materials+labour+markup. On some vehicles their labour time is WAY too short, but on others they give you 6 hours to do a 45 minute job. It ends with everything coming out in the wash between the shops and ICBC, but it makes glass claims on some vehicles absolutely pointless.

Now, ICBC sets insurance prices, they don't give two craps what a shop charges privately. This means that if you pay straight up you're going to pay more than your deductible, but less than what the shop would take in through a claim. Insurance doesn't bargain, they actually pay more.

Could this sort of set pricing system work, or is it an infringement of something?