re: #372 huggy77

Making an informed decision on your insurance b4 you purchase it…

LMAO!

You are sooo precious!

You actually think that people have a choice about what insurance they buy! Here in North Carolina, BCBS is the de facto insurer of everybody! Insurers and major league baseball are the only two industries with anti trust exemptions.

Also, insurers make sure that your employer is the customer, and not you. You are a consumer, but you have no negotiating power as a customer. The flow of information is strictly one way. You cannot get information on what your policy will actually do or cover after you buy in, nor can you reasonably “shop” for procedure prices. Hospitals DO NOT give up front, bottom line quotes on how much your surgery will cost. This is another reason why medical tourism is so attractive, since a hospital in Phuket, Thailand actually will give you the bottom line price for a procedure.

HMO’s are a racket. If you don’t play, than you pay through the nose. If you do play, you never know just what your insurance will cover or not cover. If you or your spouse gets really sick…maybe your policy gets rescinded.

This is what happens when corporate profit margins are incentivized ahead of life saving medical care.

More “informed” customers are no answer at all. It is time to change the incentives and make care the objective instead of pleasing shareholders.

I don’t want my son’s life to depend on whether the company is making it’s third quarter margin. Would you?