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The entirety of the health care system in the U.S. is setup to hide the price of health care. Insurance companies are required to cover drugs without regard to
by hackeraccount 7y ago
The entirety of the health care system in the U.S. is setup to hide the price of health care. Insurance companies are required to cover drugs without regard to the price. Dr's - who should be the patients advocate in all things including the cost - are willfully ignorant. And then you end up with a person who fully understands that the price on the tin and what they pay out of pocket may very well bear no relation to each other. Indeed there's an expectation that it will all be paid for by insurance. Which is the Dr's expectation as well - explaining why Dr's care not a jot about price. Insurance companies themselves might care but it's not like they have a choice in what they cover - that's dictated to them by politicians who will follow whatever they have to do for the sake of a vote at the ballot box.
- didgeoridoo 7y ago> Insurance companies are required to cover drugs without regard to the price Not really. Insurance companies put higher-priced drugs on higher “formulary tiers”, which means they will cover less of your costs (within certain regulatory guidelines).
- pkaye 7y agoInsurance companies care a lot of drug prices since they pay a bulk of it. For example a 20% copay is not uncommon for expensive drugs to encourage use of cheaper generics. Drug companies in turn provide copay assistance so consumer are less concerned about the high prices they charge the insurers. The drug companies in turn raise prices to cover the assistance. Meanwhile those without insurance coverage are left high and dry.