Kaosdad wrote:
Here's the deal.
On the surface a large part of the problem is the insurance company you get stuck with. KaosMom & I have been with several insurance companies - some great - some terrible. If you are unlucky enough to have to change jobs and your significant other has a problem, like, oh, say pregnency, it might not be covered. MOST insurance companies will accept a certificate from the previous company that outlines treatments to date and states that the patient is healthy. That's on the surface.
Same here. You can either choose an insurance co. and stick with it, in that case you're insured yourself (as I did). Or as an employee you can get insurance with the insurance co. your boss works with, in which case you could end up having a problem switching jobs.
Kaosdad wrote:
Next layer down is the litigation. The reason that a cardiac med for humans is 100x more expensive than the exact same med for a hog is that a hog can't sue. The outragous fees that doctors & hospitals charge is to cover mal-practice insurance.
Correct. get rid of the 'no cure no pay' system and the punitive damages.
I've been associated with an American lawfirm for some years, and I've heard some pretty stories about how rich these guys were. Private planes,
fancy hotels come to my mind.
Kaosdad wrote:
Next layer down, as previously pointed out, is profit. The flip side of an insurance company is the investment side. They take your premiums and invest them in the market. The interest & dividends they make on those investments is pure profit if they do not pay out claims. If they pay out claims, then they reduce their profit. Note: if you go for a yearly checkup that the doctor charges $450 for, and your co-pay is only $20, that's a $430 claim the insurance company paied out.
So, the insurance companies are dis-incented to provide preventitive care.
Same here. No chance in hell to get insurance with a known disease. But OTOH, once you're in, they pay out whatever the hospital charges, thanks to our system: while being private organisations and therefor keen to making a profit, hospitals are under strict regulation from the Government who pays for the basic care. So the bills of a hospital are never questioned.