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> Because the government can force a cost upon a hospital that is not sustainable? Which in turn requires the hospital to recoup the costs elsewhere.

Is this accurate? It was my understanding that payment practices with insurance providers is what causes the high sticker price of any given medicine or service in hospitals, even though insurance companies and programs like Medicare do not pay those prices, only those who pay out of pocket do.

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Medicare and Private insurers are two separate things.

Insurance companies negotiate rates with hospitals/doctors/etc. Medicare _dictates_ rates which providers can either accept or reject.

The reason the Medicare cost of an Xray is ~$20 is because it was decreed to be that expensive. It has no bearing on the cost to provide the service since the hospital had no input in the reimbursement decision.

You can search and easily find reports about how doctors restrict the number of medicare patients they see because the reimbursement rates for care are too low.

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