<story><title>Half of Americans fear a health-related bankruptcy</title><url>https://www.axios.com/health-bankruptcy-fears-poll-ce3c4905-53c6-4f43-ba4f-fde22f4ef849.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dbbk</author><text>Why should a hospital have a price list? Does the fire department? The police?</text></item><item><author>rolobio</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t think of any other business that can get away with not even giving you a ball-park estimate on costs.  If my car breaks down, my mechanic will at least give me an estimate within a hundred bucks or so.  But a hospital has no idea what it will cost (and neither does insurance) until they finally negotiate that specific case.&lt;p&gt;Another issue is that insurance does not have to compete across state lines.  They&amp;#x27;ve divvied up the country and are sticking to their corners (much like ISPs).&lt;p&gt;Insurance should be required to accept customers from anywhere in the country.  Hospitals should be required to publish prices.  These seem like no-brainers to me.  But hospitals and insurance make too much money, and give too much of it to congress for any real change.</text></item><item><author>Taek</author><text>No price transparency, no ability to choose between doctors, your job decides your insurance.&lt;p&gt;There is no room for a market to function in our health system. With no ability for consumers to move around or even see the differences between different providers, prices will naturally go up, and there will be no pressure to improve care.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>HarryHirsch</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Does the fire department&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apparently there are unincorporated areas that do not have fire service from the county but you can buy fire service from the nearest city&amp;#x27;s fire department. If you do not have fire service the firemen come and watch that the fire does not spread from your property to the neighbours who have service.&lt;p&gt;This ends up just as you would expect. The poorest and most indigent go without, and then there&amp;#x27;s death threats, newspaper coverage, the works. You wonder why people are permitted to make themselves wards of the state because if your house burns down your biggest savings vehicle is gone and you are homeless and a burden on the public pocket.&lt;p&gt;Similarities with medical coverage are incidental.</text></comment>
<story><title>Half of Americans fear a health-related bankruptcy</title><url>https://www.axios.com/health-bankruptcy-fears-poll-ce3c4905-53c6-4f43-ba4f-fde22f4ef849.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dbbk</author><text>Why should a hospital have a price list? Does the fire department? The police?</text></item><item><author>rolobio</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t think of any other business that can get away with not even giving you a ball-park estimate on costs.  If my car breaks down, my mechanic will at least give me an estimate within a hundred bucks or so.  But a hospital has no idea what it will cost (and neither does insurance) until they finally negotiate that specific case.&lt;p&gt;Another issue is that insurance does not have to compete across state lines.  They&amp;#x27;ve divvied up the country and are sticking to their corners (much like ISPs).&lt;p&gt;Insurance should be required to accept customers from anywhere in the country.  Hospitals should be required to publish prices.  These seem like no-brainers to me.  But hospitals and insurance make too much money, and give too much of it to congress for any real change.</text></item><item><author>Taek</author><text>No price transparency, no ability to choose between doctors, your job decides your insurance.&lt;p&gt;There is no room for a market to function in our health system. With no ability for consumers to move around or even see the differences between different providers, prices will naturally go up, and there will be no pressure to improve care.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bjtitus</author><text>Both public services which don’t directly bill you. Maybe something like a public health system is a good idea...</text></comment>