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Comment by pitaj | Hacker News Reader

I don't think mandates can solve price transparency. I think in order for price transparency to happen we need to eliminate employer-provided insurance, and have insurance companies competing directly for consumers. Eliminating minimum coverage mandates could also help by allowing companies to compete on different levels of coverage.

Additionally, patents and the onerous burden of the FDA need to be reduced to encourage competition.

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Why do you doubt mandates could solve price transparency? If you make the mandate correctly (e.g. “default price is $0, any other price must be disclosed upfront”) it would IMO cause complete price transparency pretty quickly...

How would eliminating employer insurance provide pricing transparency? Insurance companies don't typically disclose the prices they negotiate. They might disclose the prices a consumer pays but don't confuse this with the cost of healthcare. For an example say two options for a medical service have different cost. One charges $5000 and the other charges $8000. Say the insurance covers all but $500 no matter which choice is made. A consumer typically would only see the cost to them which is $500 and not the $3000 difference between the cost of the same service depending on provider.

The minimums in place are already trash no one should have to deal with. Allowing even crappier plans is the last thing we need.

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