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A comment on The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Parent comment

Re:The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company by btilly on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @05:03PM (#25934661)
The problem is that your catastrophic costs are likely to be massively higher if your problems are not caught by routine checkups and standard screenings. But if we make people pay the full costs for routine checkups and standard screenings, they won't bother getting them. So it is in the interest of your insurance company to make sure you get those checkups and screenings.

By contrast your odds of a catastrophic collision have more to do with drivers and driving collisions than they do with whether you got an oil change recently. If they were insuring your cost of major repairs and buying a new car, then they would have an incentive to get involved with routine maintenance as well.

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Re:The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company by throwawayboise on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @05:37PM (#25935097)
I have good insurance from my employer but I haven't been to a doctor in at least 10 years. I don't think it's a given that people get routine care just because insurance covers it, or would avoid it if they had to pay (a predictable, modest amount) for it out-of-pocket.
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Re:The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company by btilly on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @06:47PM (#25935810)
It is not a given. But there is a correlation. And the correlation is enough for insurance companies to statistically benefit from their attempts to encourage people to do it.
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Re:The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company by valzam on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @06:19PM (#25935541)
There is a middle ground (this is how most dental care in Germany works): Regular cleanings are not covered by your insurance, giving an incentive for price competition. However, if you need major dental work your insurance might not cover it if you skipped the regular cleaning.
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Re:The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company by chordalkeyboard on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @09:36PM (#25937411)
> But if we make people pay the full costs for routine checkups and standard screenings, they won't bother getting them.

Alas, those checkups and screenings still cost the same, regardless of who is paying for them. So when you decouple payment from benefit, you create adverse incentives.

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