I have found that pharmacists will adjust their prices downward when pressured. When my health plan only partially refunded a purchase, I asked and was told that the pharmacy was charging too much per pill.
I went to the pharmacy (a national chain) with the information and advised, "You either charge X per pill or I go to another pharmacy." They dropped the price.
Most medical insurance handlers will charge the
maximum that the insurance company is willing to pay, because they CAN. This doesn't affect your copay or deductible usually so most people don't care.
When I was between jobs I had to have a wisdom tooth removed. I'd been there before for several others and had been covered by insurance then, but not this time. When it came time to pay, I got the bill at the desk and then let them know I'd have to be paying for it myself since I didn't have insurance anymore. They more than cut the bill in half. They basically have a "insured" and an "uninsured" rate.
From one point of view you could consider this a bit of "socialism on the sly", as the insurers are somewhat indirectly helping me - they can charge the insured a little more, and charge me a little less
