Knowing the general madness of US healthcare, I want to stress this isn't rhetorical.

So why are people going with UHC?

EDIT I want to reply to 2 replies with the same comment, so I'll put it here - if the companies are paying & buying known-dodgy insurance, then why aren't they going with a cheap option?

You have very little choice in healthcare in the US. While you have the “option” of trying to get healthcare on your own, if you have an income it’s usually prohibitively expensive as most companies are able to both a: negotiate a better rate as a bulk deal for bringing all of their employees to the plan at once, and b: subsidize the plan for employees.

What this means is that the most choice Americans face is whether to take the high or low deductible option their plan offers and whether they take the single or family plan.

If your company picks UHC and you don’t have a spouse whose job has something better, then you’re getting UHC or nothing

> So why are people going with UHC?

Most get it through work, and most areas have only a handful that count local docs as in-network. If you're lucky, work might offer a choice between two insurers.

Because in the madness of our economy we've decided that people need to pay for their healthcare either out of pocket or through their employer. They have limited choices and often need to take the cheapest because its all they can afford.

Fortunately for health insurance companies, people who need to take the cheapest healthcare could rarely fight back.