How much health insurers pay for almost everything is about to go public

Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by bequanna on Friday July 01, 2022 @09:38PM (#31955217)

> most preventive care is already fully covered at no cost to the patient.

Sigh. Someone has to pay and that someone is all of us.

Health insurance plays on the fallacy most individuals have that they will somehow beat the system and receive more services than they pay for.

So, it becomes a race to use as much as possible. Over prescribed meds for the sexy new illness you think you might have after seeing that commercial, unnecessary office visits, bloated testing.

Combine that with Drs who are scared shitless of being sued so they do whatever the patient wants, you have a the reasons for what we have today which is extreme over use of medical services. And that is precisely why insurance and care is so expensive.

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by briHass on Friday July 01, 2022 @10:18PM (#31955462)

I don't totally disagree with your broader point, but there's a decent case to be made that basic preventative care reduces costs by catching issues before they become expensive, chronic conditions (or worse.) The 'preventative care' that is 'free' is usually pretty basic: yearly physical, scheduled vaccines, and basic blood tests and cancer screenings at certain ages.

I'd also question what health insurance plans still encourage 'using as much as possible'. Most are high-deductible plans, where you are paying $100-$150 for an office visit until you hit your deductible or OOP max. The days of $20 copay doctor visits are gone for most of us, unless you are on Congress' health plan.

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by mensetmanusman on Friday July 01, 2022 @11:06PM (#31955768)

I doubt any preventative care can compete with a society that is approaching 50% obesity.

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by Thorrez on Saturday July 02, 2022 @02:08AM (#31956672)

I would think obese with preventative care is better than obese without.

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by mensetmanusman on Saturday July 02, 2022 @06:38AM (#31957826)

Absolutely. However, the number of health issues associated with obesity is so high, it might be like rearranging chairs on the titanic.

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by datavirtue on Saturday July 02, 2022 @08:38AM (#31958525)

Winner!

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Re:How much health insurers pay for almost everything is abo... by Cornelius267 on Saturday July 02, 2022 @01:16PM (#31960742)

I don't agree that this is "precisely" why insurance and care is so expensive. Other countries do this just fine. The main reason that it's so expensive in the US is because we have for-profit insurance companies whos interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the patient. They want to make as much money as possible, and patients want to pay as little as possible.

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