Episode 012: Why is Health Insurance so Expensive? An interview with Dr. Keith Smith of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.

Why is health insurance so expensive? Why have premiums accelerated under the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) even more than they were before? Even with the increased guaranteed coverage requirements, the price increases on premiums has outstripped those variables even more than you would expect.

In this episode, Eric and Keith discuss the reasons for this increased cost to patients like you and me. Also, we discuss his surgery center which takes the revolutionary move of posting all its prices online ahead of time. Very few places in medicine anywhere have prices posted like at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Dr. Smith has appeared on multiple national formats in radio and television (Fox Business, John Stossel, Reason, etc.)

You will learn why insurance is expensive and why insurance companies don't work to keep costs low and even encourage huge charges from the hospital systems they purport to be at odds with. Listen in and share with your friends as we get to the bottom of how to run an independent surgery center without third party payors.

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Dr. Keith Smith, Owner and operator of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Also an anesthesiologist which makes him great too.[/caption]

show notes

Surgery Center of Oklahoma: Dr. Smith's free market, no third party payor surgical center website. At this site, you can follow Dr. Smith's blog or find a surgery and price it in seconds.

Free Market Medical Alliance: An organization for those advocating a different approach to delivering medical services. A great way to link with other providers or centers and a way to find people practicing medicine in alternative ways.

Where is all the medicine?: A discussion with Dr. Marion Mass about the Group Purchasing Organizations and how they drive up the price of medicine and cause drug shortages.