Employer provided health care is the problem. This means your employer is the customer of the insurance company not you. This is why they can do the things they do because you cannot switch. We think of health care as a benefit when it should just be another service you purchase like groceries or rent from your regular salary. This is why there’s ten times the number of car insurance commercials despite health insurance costing ten times the money: there’s actual competition in that market. Force health insurance to compete for our services suddenly they’re going to have to invest in customer service.
Oh it’s not a one stop fix by any means. It is just the largest and most important flaw in our system. But the 15% of health insurance outside the employer provided system is piggybacked onto the employer provided system which provides for 85% of the people and probably 98% of profit. This is about a systemic separation of the majority of users from their health insurance providers by their employers. The fact that some plans operate outside of that does not drive the companies behavior. Basically they’ve captured enough of the market that they don’t worry about that small share of people who have more choice. Your car insurance company has done hundreds of things from apps to customer service reps to make sure you don’t switch over the past decades. Unleash market forces on the health insurance companies and they will improve similarly.
Or put more simply you’ve never heard someone recommend a health insurance company because they had a good billing app or customer service because you can’t switch your provider which removes any reason to provide those services.
Employer provided health care is the problem. This means your employer is the customer of the insurance company not you. This is why they can do the things they do because you cannot switch. We think of health care as a benefit when it should just be another service you purchase like groceries or rent from your regular salary. This is why there’s ten times the number of car insurance commercials despite health insurance costing ten times the money: there’s actual competition in that market. Force health insurance to compete for our services suddenly they’re going to have to invest in customer service.
I don't have employer health care insurance. I am an independent contractor, thus the problem is on many different levels.
Oh it’s not a one stop fix by any means. It is just the largest and most important flaw in our system. But the 15% of health insurance outside the employer provided system is piggybacked onto the employer provided system which provides for 85% of the people and probably 98% of profit. This is about a systemic separation of the majority of users from their health insurance providers by their employers. The fact that some plans operate outside of that does not drive the companies behavior. Basically they’ve captured enough of the market that they don’t worry about that small share of people who have more choice. Your car insurance company has done hundreds of things from apps to customer service reps to make sure you don’t switch over the past decades. Unleash market forces on the health insurance companies and they will improve similarly.
Yes very good points!!
Or put more simply you’ve never heard someone recommend a health insurance company because they had a good billing app or customer service because you can’t switch your provider which removes any reason to provide those services.