According to DHS head (as heard on NPR this morning), something like 70% of hospital visits are non-emergency, meaning that people can at least exercise more cost comparison on those bases. But I think people already largely do that, by way of ensuring the provider they use is part of their insurance's network; after coverage, cost differences are pretty small (what's the difference between 10% of $5000 and 10% of $6000?).
The real issue is when people don't have coverage or when their insurance denies it. The latter is hopefully mitigated by Obamacare's "no pre-existing condition" exclusion. The former happening is pretty obvious: people can't afford it and their employers don't provide it (single-payer would help with this). Alternatively, some people just need _a lot_ of health care, and 10% of a million dollars is still a lot of fucking money.
But if you need the health care, what are you supposed to do? That's what we mean when we say "people don't care about prices". The prices aren't going to change that much because of this legislation. The real issues are 1) not everyone is paying into the insurance pool 2) there's a needless layer of gamesmanship between insurance and providers and 3) providers and insurance are working on a profit motive.
To fix healthcare: 1) Put everyone in the pool via taxation (aka single-payer), 2) Move healthcare to public or non-profit with lots of oversight to prevent fraud.
The real issue is when people don't have coverage or when their insurance denies it. The latter is hopefully mitigated by Obamacare's "no pre-existing condition" exclusion. The former happening is pretty obvious: people can't afford it and their employers don't provide it (single-payer would help with this). Alternatively, some people just need _a lot_ of health care, and 10% of a million dollars is still a lot of fucking money.
But if you need the health care, what are you supposed to do? That's what we mean when we say "people don't care about prices". The prices aren't going to change that much because of this legislation. The real issues are 1) not everyone is paying into the insurance pool 2) there's a needless layer of gamesmanship between insurance and providers and 3) providers and insurance are working on a profit motive.
To fix healthcare: 1) Put everyone in the pool via taxation (aka single-payer), 2) Move healthcare to public or non-profit with lots of oversight to prevent fraud.