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I'm pretty sure most people with an existing condition would prefer not to have it at all than to cost insurance companies more and have that covered. It's not
by tghw 10y ago
I'm pretty sure most people with an existing condition would prefer not to have it at all than to cost insurance companies more and have that covered.
It's not a free lunch. They paid the admission fee with their health.
Regular wellness checkups are also not a free lunch. They're priced into the policies. You absolutely can insure against regularly consumed services, as long as the premium is enough to cover it and to do the underwriting for the unexpected expenses. Look at dental or vision insurance. The vast majority of what they cover are regular wellness visits.
Putting that aside, free wellness visits are also in the interest of the insurer. It's far cheaper to prevent disease or to treat it early than it is to deal with it later. Those savings from this so-called "free lunch" ends up right back in their pockets.
- rsync 10y ago"You absolutely can insure against regularly consumed services, as long as the premium is enough to cover it" That is called fee for service. Maybe it gets bundled with actual insurance, but it's not insurance. Regular, universal expenses are not underwritable. Insurance is a technical term that has a strict meaning. You are absolutely correct that regular wellness checkups, etc., can positively affect the outcomes of that insurance pool, but they are not, themselves, insurable. They have to be paid for somewhere.
- tghw 10y agoThey actually are underwritable. Not everyone utilizes wellness visits, just like not everyone gets an x-ray, in a given year. Insurance companies can price in the expected value of wellness visits based on the participation rate. Therefore, it fits the definition of insurance, even though the likelihood of a claim is relatively high.
- philh 10y ago> It's not a free lunch. They paid the admission fee with their health. You're using the word "paid" in a sense that isn't relevant in context.