For dental insurance, those insurance companies force healthcare providers to keep artificially high prices, even for out of network patients.

For example, with my parent’s independent office, people would come in without insurance and unable to pay the high fees for say a filling or a crown.

My parents were technically able to charge much lower prices (more than half off in the case of normal cleanings,) but were unable to because of the contract they had with their insurance network.

Moreover, the listed price mandated by the insurance was not the same as the payout my parents received after filling the claim. (The payout was always less. Sometimes much less than the mandated price)

I don’t see who benefits in this situation besides the insurance company.

Even if my employer pays for my insurance, I still need to meet some premium most of the time. And what I pay is inflated because of the in-network contracts

Consider also that, in the states at least, dental insurance is separate from medical.