Aren’t they worried about costs? They just pass the cost on to the consumer via increased premiums.
That’s the racket.
Insurance companies are definitely not on the average person’s side when it comes to containing costs.
Price transparency doesn't go far enough. Regular purchasers need to be able to get the real prices, but here we are and we can't even find out what the real prices are, much less purchase at that price.
Also, why would you side with insurance company and just assume their lower pricing is correct? You know they add overhead, and they are raking in premiums. The relationship between the payer and provider is adversarial, with the payer holding the stick.
But it does favor them.
If overall margins after operating cost are a small percentage of the money that changes hands then you want the most money to change hands.
The insured have to buy from someone. Price and quality discovery takes so long that reputations don't really matter.
That way they can circumvent the care % cap
Insurance pricing is very competitive, and health insurers have single digit profit margins. Most less than 5%.
> I don’t know who taught who to be dirty, but it seems like the hospitals and insurers are becoming one in the same (possibly the hospitals learnings from the insurance industry).
The west coast has had a combination insurer/healthcare provider for a long time, Kaiser Permanente. It’s a very popular organization.
I don’t know who taught who to be dirty, but it seems like the hospitals and insurers are becoming one in the same (possibly the hospitals learnings from the insurance industry).
My hot take:
Insurers might be on the patients side simply because Americans are living longer, and maintaining the general level of sickness (diabetes, heart conditions, etc). Prices going up does not favor them when medical care is going up, so they are oddly on the average person’s side.
But for the hospitals and doctors, this is all a dream come true. Endless supply of patients, so charge whatever you want.