Yep. No market pressures to lower the price. Sucks if you don't have or can't get insurance.
Am I the only one that read this as two completely contradicting statements?
No, he's saying that the insurance companies pay either a set price or don't negotiate a lower price than the maker asks. So, since people don't balk and walk away from the higher price (because insurance gets it for them), there is no incentive to lower the prices. Kind of like how the US Gov't is forbidden from negotiating down medicine prices, and consequently us Americans have to pay an arm and leg for meds.
Essentially, Insurance companies decouple the supply-demand relationship by hiding the true cost to consumers.