I'll argue that such things happen regardless of the presence of the oversight. American financial markets are surely quite bureaucratised, but the fact that such things still happens in countries that beat US to pulp when it comes to bureaucratisation of financial industry puts weight to this argument.
I'd say that the biggest aggravating factor to this is that financial industry is not competitive, not only in US, but pretty much all around the globe. Huge regulatory pressure surely hampers competition.
Recently decided to open a bank account with another bank so I can shop around for time deposit rates. The form is 29 pages, almost all to satisfy regulatory requirements.
The price of one of my medications just tripled (to over $1000/year) due to the limited number of government approved suppliers, one of which bought the products from
the other and then shut the cheaper competing product down.
> We're from the government and we're here to help ... the industry who captured us
> The price of one of my medications just tripled (to over $1000/year) due to the limited number of government approved suppliers, one of which bought the products from the other and then shut the cheaper competing product down.
Maybe read up on countries with proper healthcare systems. The problem you describe is very much a US problem. I'm very happy with the healthcare system of my over regulated and bureaucratic country (the Netherlands): everyone pays insurance starting from less than a $100 a month (but if you don't have enough income the Government will give you the money to pay for it) and as such everyone receives healthcare without crazy bills (assuming you take medication for a medical condition).
Most people won't believe that it only costs $100 a month in health insurance for you! Incredible.
Is the coverage good (pre existing etc)? Or are there nasty surprises (buried in a 5 point font somewhere) that you only come to know when you fall sick?
The only extra cost one might have is "eigen risico" (self risk). Meaning that the first time something happens in a year you need to pay the first x euro. But I don't think that applies to everything. I have never paid that (but I rarely need medical help).
As a more practical example: I travel to Asia a lot and as such I wanted to get some shots for tropical viruses we don't have in our country (yellow fever, rabies, etc - note that we do think vaccinations are good). I got around 10 shots in total, I think the bill was ~1200 euro (~$1500). I forwarded the bill to my insurance company and they paid it back 100% no questions asked (note that the shots I got were not mandatory and I wasn't sick, just wanted to prepare for traveling).
