Socialized Health Care in the USA

[kandrathe]

How can employers manipulate a free insurance market? Market power? Why would they pay more for the same insurance? That's money out of their pockets. If they buy insurance for their employees, and that is a negotiated part of the contract, how is that different from individuals buying insurance, from the perspective of the market setting prices?

It is a huge cost and disruption for an employer to change health care providers, and leads to disgruntling of employees. Therefore, as a business, price inflation is tolerated which exerts and upward pressure higher than the base inflation rate. If health insurance were treated the same as auto insurance, then we'd have more Gecko ads and lower prices.

There is also the problem of "health insurance" being the intermediary between supplier and consumer. The price for a particular treatment or technology is negotiated with the insurance company where it gets lost in a bundle of services, and consumer demand. The consumer only sees (the employee share of) the aggregate averaged price based on the size of his "group". The employer, factors in the cost of benefits into the cost of employment resulting in lower wages (while insurance benefits are counted as taxable income).