A lot of US citizens have moved to "high deductible" health insurance plans, which means they pay for most medical procedures up to some yearly maximum (such as $10k.) The advantage is the monthly premium is significantly less. Those people are very incentivized to shop around.
This is pretty much the default option for your average person who doesn't have employer-provided healthcare. And the "significantly less" monthly premium is still in the range of hundreds of dollars. It's outrageous.
