Sorry about your situation, but Lily may be compared to the extortionist who peddles "insurance"......Have you ever wondered why European countries do not succumb to such tactics?
Insurance companies do one thing: pay the bills. That's it. They do nothing different than our government does with our social programs. In fact, our government has hired private insurance to do their billing for them because they are so efficient at it.
Until Commie Care came along, health insurance companies made a reasonable profit, but not record profits like companies outside of the healthcare industry. They were between 2% and 9% I believe.
Insurance companies are not the major problem with healthcare costs.
Actually -- they have wrestled the doctors, other providers and pharma into submission. Doctors no longer are "raking it in" and many are retiring early.. Then you get a Sanders that comes along and PRETENDS that the govt is more competent at arm-twisting. And I guess they are if they can THREATEN your business.
But it's not like the Insurance companies aren't screwing the doctors, hospitals and even big Pharma every chance they get. Since O-care -- Tenn has been taken over by BlueCrossBlueShield. Effectively now a monopoly. Can raise prices all they want. And tell doctors to just bang it if they won't take their reimbursement rates.
The exact same is going on with government patients as well.
Medicare and Medicaid typically pay about 2/3 of the bill to the providers of their patients. To recoup those losses, doctors and facilities increase the cost of their services to private pay and privately insured patients. This is one of the reasons premiums have had a steady pace of increases the last few decades.
If you do a search on medical facilities that closed down, you would probably find that a majority of them closed down in poorer areas where most of the clients were government patients. The facilities couldn't recoup the losses because they had such a small amount of private insured patients.
So the solution to the problem is for government to pay their providers in full. But how could they do that? They would have to severely increase taxes such as Medicare deductions on your paycheck.
If that took place, then working people would revolt. They would elect leaders that would change the system such as a private insured system. That would take the control away from the government and nobody is about to do that.
My dentist charges me half the price that they charge insurance companies. I think this supports what you state.
I bet if we paid cash and did not use the government or insurance, the price for medical would be affordable.
This is true which is why I'm for a mandatory Health Savings account. It would be deducted from your paycheck like a tax, except it would go towards your medical care. You have to use that account first before insurance kicks in.
Insurance companies for years have been complaining about paperwork costs. You see a doctor for $150.00, and the paperwork goes to the insurance companies who in return have to create paperwork to send back along with the check. Then that charge may only apply to your deductible or the insurance company pays part of it.
By eliminating all that, the doctor could do with less staff, it would bypass the insurance company who can use their resources for much larger claims, and the price would go down.
It could be a small deduction let's say 2% for younger workers, and maybe 3% or so for middle-aged workers. That money will add up fast, and you could use it like a debit card where you just swipe it at the end of your doctors visits, the ER or the clinic.
