Cigna paid its negotiated discounted rate of $68,240 and the patient had to contribute $3,018. Is that overwhelming cost really something to be upbeat about? Once acceptance of health insurance was widespread, a domino effect ensued: hospitals adapted to its financial incentives, which changed how doctors practiced medicine, which revolutionized the types of drugs and devices that manufacturers made and marketed. The money chase was on: no one was protecting the patients.
