Or the opposite approach - stop mandating hospitals must accept any patient, regardless of their ability to pay. I bet hospitals would all of a sudden become affordable as they want to capture "low-income" market share.
And the problem is less about what you claim (although some of the claim is valid). The core problem with required/not-required dichotomy is that cheap preventative care visits are not required, but expensive emergency care is, hence the average cost approaches the latter as people substitute the former for the latter.
> In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay.[1]
[1] https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/emt...