ML-Implode News - As Obamacare Breaks Down, Markets Work Around It

To try to compensate for such losses, insurers have hiked prices by double-digit percentages year after year. That's despite the fact that the ACA was promised to lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year. It's clear that the ACA in its current form is unsustainable. Its promise to provide "more choice, more competition and lower costs" has resulted in less choice, less competition and higher prices.
But while Capitol Hill bickers, Main Street innovates. Health entrepreneurs around the country are quietly experimenting with ways to offer good care for a cheap price. They are tapping into the market created by the proliferation of ACA-induced, high-deductible healthcare plans, which have turned compliant patients into discerning shoppers trying to find the best price for their tests, X-rays, MRIs and doctor's visits.

Consider Dr. Keith Smith, who runs the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. He took the radical step (in the healthcare industry, anyway) of posting his prices online. This allows patients to shop for healthcare services like any other industry. Such transparent pricing caused patients to flock to him, forcing providers from as far away as Wichita to do the same. Next came the price war among providers, which has contributed to this region having some of the cheapest procedure prices in the nation. Markets and small business ingenuity did what the ACA has been unable to do: actually lower healthcare prices for consumers.

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As Obamacare Breaks Down, Markets Work Around It