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202 points helsinkiandrew | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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findthewords ◴[] No.44645035[source]
Preventative treatment for disease is ten, hundred, thousand times cheaper than treatment ex post facto.
replies(4): >>44645054 #>>44646406 #>>44653377 #>>44657121 #
fxtentacle ◴[] No.44645054[source]
Only if you have an excellent health insurance plan. Otherwise, preventive treatment costs you money, while curative treatment is paid for you.

Sounds like a misguided incentive ...

replies(3): >>44645175 #>>44645536 #>>44646096 #
DarmokJalad1701 ◴[] No.44645536[source]
My insurance covers annual bloodwork/physicals as well as immunizations. I am pretty sure most health insurance policies do.
replies(2): >>44646332 #>>44648394 #
1. rsync ◴[] No.44648394[source]
An important nit I need to pick…

These are items you receive along with your insurance.

They are not insurable events and they are not “covered” like an insurable event.

Predictable, regularly occurring events cannot be covered by insurance by definition. You can’t adjust it, you can’t assemble a risk pool, etc.

We use the word “insurance” to mean “nice things that I like” but I think we’d have more enthusiasm for socialized medicine if we knew how much of “insurance” was nothing of the sort.

replies(1): >>44651226 #
2. nradov ◴[] No.44651226[source]
That's not quite correct. Many patients forgo preventive screening procedures even when they're free (to the patient). Medical insurer actuaries are aware of this and price policies accordingly.