There is immense pressure on insurance companies to lower costs, as they get blamed for the "American health care system". The only one on the side of the payer is the insurance company, they're the only one who wants to keep costs down for the consumer. Given the massive amounts of fraud in government health insurance (medicare) it would of course be prevalent in the private insurance market.
“ they're the only one who wants to keep costs down for the consumer.”
They don’t. They want to increase profits by pushing more and more cost to the patient while squeezing providers. The patient is always the loser in this system. One reason is that most patients don’t even have a choice of insurance because their employer picks the insurance that’s best for the employer.
My employer switches insurance carriers every 4 years or so because another carrier has a more competitive rate. "What's best for the employer" is also what's best for me -- I can walk across the street and get a new job if I become unhappy. They want to keep their healthcare costs down so they can keep my salary high as dollars lost to my healthcare compensation are invisible to me.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/20...