“Glad you were able to make it” says the insurance company.
“We didn’t really have much of a choice!” chorused the room full of medical care givers. “What’s up?”
“We need to agree to medical care pricing” says the insurance company. “Whatever we agree on we will add a margin for our shareholders. Understood?”
“Ok, we want contracts that guarantee a pay increase every year and we want as much as the market will bear!” says a hospital executive.
“Well, the good news is there is no free market in healthcare and we can charge whatever we want. So let’s agree on pricing that defies common sense, reason and logic!” chortles the insurance company.
“Wait!” screams a thunderous voice in the back of the room. “Where’s the guys with the money? Don’t they have a say in this? After all they are the ones paying for all of this!”
“Na, screw um” says the insurance company. ‘They are gonna pay whatever we tell them to pay!”
“How are we going to handle those few Referenced Based Pricing employers who set their own prices? whispers the nice lady in the red hat.
“We hold all the cards. We are going to intimidate them, threaten them, turn their own employees against them and generally make their lives as miserable as possible” gloats a rotund and ball-headed hospital administrator. “We will bury them!”
Such is the reality of American health care financing.
