The article talks about medicare, but I believe the same applies to private insurers.
Curbing Medicare Costs Without Vouchers - Rasmussen Reports™
Curbing Medicare Costs Without Vouchers - Rasmussen Reports™
Our country should be studying the various treatment options for various disease to determine the optimum effective treatment taking into account cost. Then just pay for the cost of that option. If a doctor or patient wishes a different treatment option; fine. But the insurer or medicare should only be liable only up the cost of the optimum effective treatment. The balance is up to the patient to self fund or find an insurer willing to provide the extra coverage for treatment above the optimum effective treatment.About 10 years ago, a new radiation treatment for prostate cancer came on line. A single course of "intensity-modulated radiation therapy" cost Medicare about $42,000. The older radiation therapy cost $10,000. Hospitals bought the new machines and stopped using the traditional method. This tacked another $1.5 billion per year to Medicare spending on prostate cancer alone.
Did the fancy new machines do a better job than the old ones? Medicare did not inquire. It just paid. Amazing.
First, look at the existing setup. For most any treatment deemed "reasonable and necessary," Medicare pays the cost plus some profit. This has turned the program into a brainless check-writing machine for the medical-industrial complex.