<story><title>People Lose Their Employer-Sponsored Insurance Constantly</title><url>https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/04/04/people-lose-their-employer-sponsored-insurance-constantly/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ummonk</author><text>That actually sounds like the high deductible plan is functioning as it should though. Causing consumers to price-shop and avoid price-gouging providers.</text></item><item><author>jvagner</author><text>We have a high-deductible health plan and live in Reno. When my gf recently had the need for a CAT scan, the first choice was here in Reno, and it was priced at over $800. She cancelled her appointment, called over in Carson City (20 minutes south of Reno), and got one done, by someone in our network, for $400. The doctor&amp;#x27;s office who referred her said, &amp;quot;$800? Really!?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The Reno specialist made her a follow-up appointment in June. The Carson City specialist saw her in 4 days.&lt;p&gt;Etc, etc.&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;re our own LLC, and we got our own group health plan, as a function of being self-employed and having experienced the employment-related gaps in health insurance coverage.&lt;p&gt;None of this is interesting, but it&amp;#x27;s stupid and risky. This system has to be changed.</text></item><item><author>helen___keller</author><text>The point of health insurance is to pay into a risk pool as a collective so that the small percentage of people who end up needing the largest percentage of health care, nobody dies or goes into monumental debt. This can be done via taxes but insurance is a private market solution which should in theory make it more efficient for the sake of maximizing profit.&lt;p&gt;So then if it&amp;#x27;s supposedly more efficient, why do I waste multiple hours dealing with insurance bullshit literally every few months?&lt;p&gt;Start a new job at a startup, need to go to trainings to understand the health care options and choose one, get new cards and website logins, update my info at every provider&lt;p&gt;New dentist is having difficulty getting my routine care billed to insurance and calls me every week asking for my insurance information again.&lt;p&gt;Wifes doctor didn&amp;#x27;t do something correctly when I updated insurance so now I need to call and deal with this big medical bill that I shouldn&amp;#x27;t have gotten.&lt;p&gt;Startup got acquired so I get another training for the new insurance options. And get new cards and logins and update with all providers again&lt;p&gt;Planning to get a surgical operation but nobody can tell me how much it will cost, doctor says &amp;quot;probably whatever your deductible is&amp;quot; except I have a high deductible plan so is it really going to cost me $2500?&lt;p&gt;Etc cetera. There&amp;#x27;s no end to the nuisance. If I could choose to just pay more in taxes (hell I&amp;#x27;ll pay way more than my current premiums) and never deal with insurance again, I would do it in a heartbeat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>arcticbull</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ll be sure to let the ambulance driver know after a car accident they should shop around :\ Maybe an Ayn Rand medicalert bracelet would help. Allergy: Socialism.</text></comment>
<story><title>People Lose Their Employer-Sponsored Insurance Constantly</title><url>https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/04/04/people-lose-their-employer-sponsored-insurance-constantly/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ummonk</author><text>That actually sounds like the high deductible plan is functioning as it should though. Causing consumers to price-shop and avoid price-gouging providers.</text></item><item><author>jvagner</author><text>We have a high-deductible health plan and live in Reno. When my gf recently had the need for a CAT scan, the first choice was here in Reno, and it was priced at over $800. She cancelled her appointment, called over in Carson City (20 minutes south of Reno), and got one done, by someone in our network, for $400. The doctor&amp;#x27;s office who referred her said, &amp;quot;$800? Really!?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The Reno specialist made her a follow-up appointment in June. The Carson City specialist saw her in 4 days.&lt;p&gt;Etc, etc.&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#x27;re our own LLC, and we got our own group health plan, as a function of being self-employed and having experienced the employment-related gaps in health insurance coverage.&lt;p&gt;None of this is interesting, but it&amp;#x27;s stupid and risky. This system has to be changed.</text></item><item><author>helen___keller</author><text>The point of health insurance is to pay into a risk pool as a collective so that the small percentage of people who end up needing the largest percentage of health care, nobody dies or goes into monumental debt. This can be done via taxes but insurance is a private market solution which should in theory make it more efficient for the sake of maximizing profit.&lt;p&gt;So then if it&amp;#x27;s supposedly more efficient, why do I waste multiple hours dealing with insurance bullshit literally every few months?&lt;p&gt;Start a new job at a startup, need to go to trainings to understand the health care options and choose one, get new cards and website logins, update my info at every provider&lt;p&gt;New dentist is having difficulty getting my routine care billed to insurance and calls me every week asking for my insurance information again.&lt;p&gt;Wifes doctor didn&amp;#x27;t do something correctly when I updated insurance so now I need to call and deal with this big medical bill that I shouldn&amp;#x27;t have gotten.&lt;p&gt;Startup got acquired so I get another training for the new insurance options. And get new cards and logins and update with all providers again&lt;p&gt;Planning to get a surgical operation but nobody can tell me how much it will cost, doctor says &amp;quot;probably whatever your deductible is&amp;quot; except I have a high deductible plan so is it really going to cost me $2500?&lt;p&gt;Etc cetera. There&amp;#x27;s no end to the nuisance. If I could choose to just pay more in taxes (hell I&amp;#x27;ll pay way more than my current premiums) and never deal with insurance again, I would do it in a heartbeat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>munk-a</author><text>Sure, in the case of a scan that isn&amp;#x27;t urgent.  If you were in a car accident and have a piece of metal embedded in your kidney are you in a level, clear-minded state to price shop about which emergency room won&amp;#x27;t gouge you?&lt;p&gt;Health care is an inelastic good, we need it.  So this is a market (much like having a military) that really benefits from the government stepping in and making things sane.</text></comment>