Comment by JohnAaronNelson
14 days ago
It’s not as easy in reality as theory.
1) Services are often unique per patient. Even for patients with the same ICD-10 codes, the quality of service will vary. Hospitals cost different amounts to run. If you always peg the price to the lowest, it will be a race to the bottom for quality of service.
2) Patients are unique, with different health profiles, with different preferences for paying. Markets are different. Some markets only have one insurance payer.
3) Healthcare is already tax deductible
Regarding #3, do you mean in the United States? That's not generally true. Your health insurance premiums, under normal employer plans, are not tax deductible, but they are paid pre-tax.
Additional out of pocket healthcare expenditure is only deductible if you itemize your deductions and you're only allowed to deduct medical expenditures in excess of 7.5% of your income (AGI to be technical).
Paying something ‘pre tax’ is equivalent to, or even better, than it being deductible.