Re:Health insurance companies are useless
by skohan on Tuesday August 06, 2019 @01:54PM
(#20627666)
Yes but it is also because those specific types of treatments respond well to market forces: they are common enough for there to be a lot of competing providers, and if the price is too high, people can elect not to receive those services.
For a counterexample, look at dental surgery. This is also often not covered by insurance, but it's much more expensive, and low-income individuals often take on debt and risk their financial security to undergo these procedures because the alternative is often a severely degraded quality of life. The difference is that the demand is much less flexible, so providers can get away with higher prices. Many healthcare procedures fall into this category.
For a counterexample, look at dental surgery. This is also often not covered by insurance, but it's much more expensive, and low-income individuals often take on debt and risk their financial security to undergo these procedures because the alternative is often a severely degraded quality of life. The difference is that the demand is much less flexible, so providers can get away with higher prices. Many healthcare procedures fall into this category.