Re:Medicare will require hospitals to post prices online
by lostapathy on Wednesday April 25, 2018 @01:50PM
(#16924124)
I think this captures the mismatch better than you intended.
My routine healthcare is not a big-ticket purchase and should not be the kind of thing I need to negotiate over. The total package between hospitals and insurers is, but my transaction is not.
It's not even that. "Sticker price" is simply the opening of negotations, sam as with any big-ticket purchase like real estate and vehicles and school tuition, and to a lesser extent airfare and hotel rates.
As with any high-overhead business with room for high-marginal-profit on units, they simply seek to maximize total revenue or at least cover costs. They don't care which customers pay how much.