Fear of Lawsuits Is Not Why We Spend So Much On Health Care

[whatthehey]

6. Insurance companies do have one good service

They negotiate prices. If you showed up at a hospital and said "I'll pay for surgery on my cervical vertebrae" you'd get a bill for, in my case, $31000. Simply having BCBS as a middleman made it $13000. Could I have negotiated a discount? Probably, but not a 60%+ one as I don't have Blue Cross' leverage, and that's not an option for someone suffering a sudden onset issue. Negotiating after the fact is a unilateral power scenario.

Insurance companies are swingeing money grubbing shysters it's true. But so are providers, and you're better off letting the big dog shysters battle it out than trying to get into that dogfight with no teeth or claws yourself. If I win that Megamillions jackpot tonight, my first action will be to quit working. My second will be to hit the exchange for a platinum plan not because I want to enrich insurers but because I want, and without that jackpot flat out need, their price list.