And then he would charge whatever the market would bear in order to maximize return on his investment.
"Running it like a business" *is* part of the problem.
Health care is not just another business. Once you're in the hospital, it's a little late to go price shopping. And with your life on the line, do you really want to choose the low cost provider?
If you reformed the whole system you could trim a lot of hospital overhead, but it's a systemic problem. More overhead and waste is happening in the insurance companies which is what needs to be cleaned out first, then you can start dealing with providers' overhead that exists to serve the rest of the system
You wonder how much of a hospital is true emergencies vs scheduled care. While ERs are indeed busy, how many of those should actually go to a primary care doctor instead. Even then I would imagine your schedule appointments are the bulk of the volume at a hospital.
nitpick, but it's anything imminently life-threatening (mas o menos), not anything
like if you show up in the ER with burgeoning cancer they won't provision chemo
His prices are fairly comparable for his limited selection of cheap generics compared to other mail order options. Also, his pricing is cash only --- no insurance.
But dispensing drugs is not really comparable to "health care". Running a hospital comes with a lot more unknowns and risk.
If he has it all figured out, why hasn't he bought a hospital? Let me guess --- it's not a good investment.
If you're getting a routine colonoscopy every few years, it may be feasible to shop around.
Have you actually tried this? Most won't give you a fixed price up front because of the potential for things to go wrong.