You must be joking if you think U.S. healthcare is deregulated. It’s one of the most regulated sectors in the economy, which explains why it’s such nightmare to deal with.
Its not just heavily regulated, it's also one of the most indirect markets that exists. People often have no idea how much their health insurance actually costs in the first place, and they have no idea how much their insurance may or may not pay for any given procedure, or how much a procedure will be billed for, or even if a single procedure will result in 1-10+ different bills.
Since the people giving care often have to provide care irrespective of ability to pay, they have no idea what anything costs.
Since Insurance companies generally aren't paid by individual people that use their service, and have discretion in what they pay the process is as difficult as possible for providers and users of medical services to navigate.
