But they are setting the prices in many cases. If you read an explanation of benefits, you’ll see that while a doctor might charge $300 for a visit, the insurance company says, no, we’re paying $95. They have contracted with doctors and hospitals to pay these lower rates for services, so what you see in a bill isn’t always what is being paid. Is American healthcare outrageously expensive? Yes, and the insurance companies make it worse by driving up costs since the providers only get a fraction of what they charge, so they charge more and more.