I'm not sure how to put my finger on it, but the problem that causes a regular appendicitis patient like to me to emerge from an American hospital with a $54,000 bill is one that needs solving.
What about (off the top of my head), a hospital that is funded by a network of companies. It only treats people who work for these companies, and the companies all foot the bill based on # of employees.
The companies own the hospital and run it at break-even, and make sure that all costs are low.
I could see something like this working in urban centers where there is a high concentration of large, highly-profitable companies. Silicon Valley, NY, Boston, LA.
It goes way beyond just fixing your appendicitis (which, by the way, that is one massive bill), but should (theoretically) still fix that problem.
It could be a double-blind. Hospital doesn't know which of the companies you work for, and the company doesn't know which employees are costing them money.
Why not? We link other things with employment for cities where there's a large, concentrated number of employees. Towns with fire departments owned by the companies.
Do we really need to make things harder for self-employed folks? That insurance is in any way linked to your employer is already complete folly. The car insurance, single-payer, and exchange-based models are all fundamentally better than the "no one knows how much anything costs" model of employer-sponsored health care.
