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How often do health insurers say no to patients? (2023)

(www.propublica.org)
94 points lentoutcry | 1 comments | 06 Sep 25 20:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.208s | source
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kstrauser ◴[06 Sep 25 22:24 UTC] No.45153451[source]▶
All the time. I have a UnitedHealthcare “platinum” plan, and it may as well not include pharmacy benefits because it never covers anything. Generic thyroid meds went from $2/month with Aetna to $70 with UHC. ADHD meds went from $10 to $300.

The threatened “death panels” we heard about when ACA was being debated are actually employees of insurers who decide what they’re not going to pay for.

I was raised a die-hard capitalist and in many ways still am. When it comes to healthcare these days, I’m somewhere to the left of Marx. What we have now is a failed system. It simply does not work. The turnip has been squeezed and there’s no blood left to wring from it.

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arwhatever ◴[06 Sep 25 23:01 UTC] No.45153712[source]▶
1. A properly competitive marketplace 2. Socialized medicine 3. What we have now

I would like to see #1 tried but at this point I’ll gladly accept #2

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SamoyedFurFluff ◴[06 Sep 25 23:43 UTC] No.45153919[source]▶
How can we have a competitive marketplace? I’m not a doctor (and therefore cannot informed evaluate the services) and even if I was I can’t search for my preferred cardiologist when I’m having a heart attack.
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eviks ◴[07 Sep 25 02:24 UTC] No.45154835[source]▶
You're not a mechanic, how can you evaluate the services be certain that they didn't oil your breaks instead of your engine?

> can’t search for my preferred cardiologist when I’m having a heart attack.

You can't search for your preferred mechanics when your breaks failed on a highway.

Yet somehow that didn't kill the competitive marketplace.

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1. mattnewton ◴[07 Sep 25 03:19 UTC] No.45155113[source]▶
I can call a cab or get a replacement car from my insurance to drive around in, and I understand my body a whole lot less than my car. Demand for a car mechanic is nowhere near as inelastic as most of healthcare, so I don’t think this analogy really fits. At most it suggests that private markets can handle ambulances as well as we handle roadside towing.