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Except even on a high-deductible plan, the provider bills the insurer, they play their games with the price, and eventually you get a bill. There is no up-fron
by ams6110 8y ago
Except even on a high-deductible plan, the provider bills the insurer, they play their games with the price, and eventually you get a bill.
There is no up-front price. There is no market pressure. You still don't know what you will need to pay until weeks or months later.
- hippich 8y agoThat's why I called it a hack and not proper implementation. While what you described is true - patients are hit with "real costs" instead of $10 co-pays and rising premiums. ideally - yes, most minor stuff would be paid out of pocket - market forces would immediately put things in a right place. And for emergencies - leave that to insurances.
- snovv_crash 8y agoSwitzerland does this right: there is an annual excess (which patients can choose, typically between $500 and $2500, and which is reflected in reduced premiums if you choose a higher excess) which is paid entirely by the patient, and after that the insurance kicks in for 90% of costs up to another threshold, after which the insurer covers everything. In this way the insurance is actually an insurance like a car insurance, and not some bastardized medical payment plan where incentives of different parties aren't aligned.
- hippich 8y agoThis sounds pretty much what high deductible plans are in the USA. Are there some other differences? Perhaps patients file insurance claims themselves?