Their prices are all-inclusive with followups on case something goes wrong and therapy for procedures that need it.
The founder was on econtalk (https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-c...) where he also claimed that their prices have been steady and that surgeons earn more there than at other hospitals. Meanwhile insurances don't want to work with them because they don't get to advertise how much money was saved from the Brutto cost based on their negotiation with the provider because they would have to pay the sticker price like everyone else.
Like I shouldn't be billed extra if my surgeon is hungover and things don't go smoothly.
That’s what you think is the common root cause of complications?
You clearly are not interested in a productive discussion.
As for a fee for unpredictable occurrences - that’s what insurance is.
Your hungover surgeon is a bullshit strawman - most complications have nothing to do with provider malice or incompetence. Again since that seems to be the angle you are starting with you clearly have no interest in a grown up discussion or too ignorant and also full of hubris to understand any of this (which fits in perfectly well on this site).
If you throw a massive clot after a surgery and stroke out who’s fault was that if all the standard protocols for clot prevention were followed. Maybe you’re a smoker (or not) and 5 years later that unknown cancer will finally declare itself.
> more or less exists for each procedure
This is extremely misleading as it does not exist in any meaningful level of risk across the entire patient population.
It is all insurance in the end, but the incentives created by pushing the providers to bill ahead are better than the ones created by letting them bill for what they do.
They are pointedly uninterested in calculating what your particular surgery will cost you or your insurance. All they know is that you're one of 200 this month and your insurance pays, on average after all the adjustments and adjudications, about 15% less than average so please be quiet and don't make a fuss.
The reason medical providers don't know is because they don't care to know. Their systems are purposefully complex so their computers can do battle with the "insurance" company computers. And when you try to ask a doctor this highly relevant question, they condescendingly feign as if money shouldn't matter despite it being the foremost thing in many people's minds.