The "American" public is Schizophrenic about the Health Care Industry. They want it to be cheap, but have no restrictions or or limiting measures, yet they want to have unlimited choice. These two desires are mutually exclusive. Networks are created in the hope that there will be contracts that will save, private insurance and the government, money. Healthcare is very expensive, and becoming more expensive every day, someone has to pay. You can have more choice and you decide what you pay, or payments are made for you and you have less choice on what and whom you utilize. Government mandates, limit choice, however, there is little evidence that it saves money (in the US.), unless you have a single payer system , like the British Healthcare System. You can participate or choose not to, however.
Not a particular friend of insurance companies but that is a fact.