Healthcare can and should be heavily regulated, its not like buying a hammer.
I agree that regulation makes sense, just not with the extremely specific proposal that medical devices be sold at cost (or whatever slightly higher unit cost is available to consumers).
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-c...
> Mandating supplies must be available at-cost to consumers is just a stupid cost-shifting game.
That's not what I suggested in my post at all.
Also, if it reduces costs for the end consumer, what's the harm? Why should consumers subsidize hospitals with cutthroat billing departments who make up numbers out of thin air?
Not trivially? [1]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/18/uk-cancer-su...
Yes, mandating supplies be sold at-cost is exactly what you proposed:
> Hospitals should be legally mandated to accept replacement of materials in lieu of payment.
> If I can source the same stents for cheaper than the hospital bills me, they should be required to erase them from the bill and accept them as material replacement.
And to address:
> Also, if it reduces costs for the end consumer, what's the harm?
The problem is in the condition. At the end of the day, ineffective regulation increases costs for the consumer.
> Most do not have the time or expertise for that, nor would anyone want to do it.
Is that a joke? You can find most of those things with a 30 second Google search. I thought this was a forum with technically apt people?
> If I can source the same stents for cheaper than the hospital bills me, they should be required to erase them from the bill and accept them as material replacement.
Meh. The only reason they inflate supply costs is because that's where insurance negotiations let them. Mandating supplies must be available at-cost to consumers is just a stupid cost-shifting game. Consumers shouldn't care in particular about the cost of supplies — overall cost is what matters.
Price-fixing in general does not really work. The difference is made up somewhere. Things that would actually reduce pricing stupidity and surprise bills are obvious things like: increased pricing transparency, consumer stake in reducing costs (HDHPs are a stab in this direction), and single payer.