Some Facts about Health Insurance

Normally I only claim to be an expert on my own opinion. Today I will write about an area where I have some expertise. I used to work in the health insurance industry. Today I have no connections with the industry, personal or financial. It is not my intent to defend them. I’d just like to clear up some misunderstandings.

Only a small minority of people actually have private health insurance. You may have a card with an insurance company’s name on it. Unless you work for a small company, your employer pays the bills and hires the insurance company to manage the claims. Only individuals or small businesses actually buy health insurance.

Many say the reason health care costs so much is excess insurance company profit. Since so few people actually have health insurance, this isn’t the case. Companies that actually write insurance are happy if a penny or two of each premium dollar makes it to the bottom line.

Many are unhappy if their physician or hospital isn’t in the network. Health care costs would be much higher if it weren’t for discounts that have been negotiated.

The biggest area of controversy is treatments that are not covered. There is usually a good reason. Mental health inpatient coverage is often quite limited. This is because of past abuses. If a kid were acting up, they would put him in an institution. Suddenly they were “cured” once the insurance ran out. Experimental treatment is another example. A company should be held to account if they unfairly deny coverage.
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The only real answer is to find ways to make health care less costly. Unfortunately, neither the Obama nor the Trump administration has done much about it.
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