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I don't think we are talking about the same thing. I was responding to nighcrawler's comment. People expect health insurance to cover all of their expenses. That eliminates competition. Look at how costs have come done for Lasik surgery since health insurance is not involved.
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Originally Posted by Katiana
1. I'm not so sure that's true.
2. Lasik is elective; you don't have to get it. You have plenty of time to shop around. That's not the case when you or your kid gets sick.
You are not so sure that it is true that people expect health insurance to cover all of their healthcare expenses? Most people are accustomed to paying a copay for office visits, prescriptions, physical therapy, etc. As soon as most people here that their insurance might not cover something, than it is not so critical. My research found that Cialis received FDA approval for BPH. I asked my physician to write a prescription and he agreed. It turns out my insurance company will only approve Cialis at four pills per month for ED. My BPH symptoms are not serious enough for me to pay out of pocket for Cialis.
Regarding elective health care and competition, most of the healthcare that my immediate family has received has been elective. Obviously we have been lucky. With serious illness, you are not price shopping, and the system doesn't give you the opportunity even if you wanted to. My example of Lasik surgery is a procedure that could easily have been picked up by insurance. The price of Lasik surgery has been drastically reduced by competition. What if there was competition for other things like radiology procedures and lab tests? Could this drive down the overall cost of healthcare? Instead of paying a higher health insurance premium, you would pay a lower premium and not have coverage for those procedures. I would then be free to take the money I have saved on insurance premiums and shop for the best price for lab tests and radiology procedures.
Volume makes up for it. Health care is something every person gets into, sooner or later.
only to a point. if there is an outbreak where a lot of money is being paid out by the insurance companies, they can very easily get to the point where they are losing money, and lots of it, very quickly. that is one of the problems with a small profit margin.
Our current President's intractable hostility against HSAs is one reason, but there's plenty of blame to go around, starting with the scores of mandates which state governments require all of the insurance companies within their jurisdictions to cover, including FORTY-NINE in California.
Our current President's intractable hostility against HSAs is one reason, but there's plenty of blame to go around, starting with the scores of mandates which state governments require all of the insurance companies within their jurisdictions to cover, including FORTY-NINE in California.
How many of those 49 are really subsidiaries of the same company?
Our current President's intractable hostility against HSAs is one reason, but there's plenty of blame to go around, starting with the scores of mandates which state governments require all of the insurance companies within their jurisdictions to cover, including FORTY-NINE in California.
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Originally Posted by MTAtech
How many of those 49 are really subsidiaries of the same company?
You are misinterpreting what the first poster is saying. He is saying there are 49 health mandates, not 49 health insurance companies. There are 21 insurance companies licensed to sell health insurance in California. List of Health Carriers Offering Group & Individual Policies
The OP was about health insurance and car insurance. The right question is, what would happen to the price of auto-body repair if government programs paid for half of all repairs done, which means that half the customers absolutely do not give a damn how much it costs? Body shops would market to crappy drivers just like health care providers market to the chronically ill.
only to a point. if there is an outbreak where a lot of money is being paid out by the insurance companies, they can very easily get to the point where they are losing money, and lots of it, very quickly. that is one of the problems with a small profit margin.
Which is also something larger players desire, so they have less competition to worry about. There's a reason why small businesses dislike having a Walmart as a neighbor.
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Originally Posted by marcopolo
The OP was about health insurance and car insurance. The right question is, what would happen to the price of auto-body repair if government programs paid for half of all repairs done, which means that half the customers absolutely do not give a damn how much it costs? Body shops would market to crappy drivers just like health care providers market to the chronically ill.
The OP was about health insurance and car insurance. The right question is, what would happen to the price of auto-body repair if government programs paid for half of all repairs done, which means that half the customers absolutely do not give a damn how much it costs? Body shops would market to crappy drivers just like health care providers market to the chronically ill.
I see your point but there are some major differences. Car insurance companies are marketing to individuals. There is plenty of competition among sellers. They compete on service and price. Health insurance companies advertise but are mostly selling to the benefits departments of corporations and other large organizations.
Most people don't use their car insurance that often. I haven't filed a claim since I hit a deer around 10 years ago. Virtually everyone uses health insurance at least once a year.
Car insurance doesn't pay for routine maintenance like oil changes and new tires. Many people feel comfortable taking larger deductibles and saving on their premium.
Once a car insurance claim is filed, people don't really care how much it costs. In that way car insurance and health insurance are similar.
Regarding your comment about, "if government programs paid for half of all repairs done," I don't think it is limited to government programs. What difference does it make if my insurance is government provided like Medicare or a private insurance company like United Healthcare? In both cases, there is no incentive for customers to give a damn about how much it costs.
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