[raiyu]

The reality of is that for profit insurance companies want an opaque and high pricing structure. This allows them to charge higher premiums across their entire set of customers meanwhile the number of people that are getting seriously sick or injured is small allowing them to create huge profits.

So these higher prices, create higher premiums, which create higher profit, so there is no actual incentive for the insurance companies to get hospital prices down because the majority of their insured users are not going to be getting massive bills throughout the year and also they can still litigate or pass healthcare costs back to the customer due to coverage issues and let's not forget deductibles.

[NickC25]

This! And not only are they for-profit, they're public companies, too! Companies that are required to increase revenues, make more money each quarter, etc.

Imagine the long-term cost savings to the consumers if massive insurance companies were banned from lobbying or "influencing" lawmakers.