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"Strnagely enough, insurance companies are part of the gatekeepers for this, since they don't want to pay out of their pockets to provide expensive care for thi
by dividendium 18y ago
"Strnagely enough, insurance companies are part of the gatekeepers for this, since they don't want to pay out of their pockets to provide expensive care for things that don't work."
Consider the economics here. If something is not expensive, you don't need insurance. So it's in the insurance companies' interests to inflate the prices so more people will need health insurance and can't pay for procedures out of pocket. The insurance companies just have to raise their premiums to compensate, and the larger the amounts of money passing through their hands, the easier it is for them to keep some of it.
I'm not attacking insurance companies, just pointing out that it's not entirely logical to assume that their interests are aligned with yours.
- arn 18y agoI'm not saying they are the only gatekeeper. But point is, pharmaceudical companies can't just create a medication and claim it "does xyz" and expect that people will pay for it. These medications are reviewed before being "covered" by insurance companies or medicare (goverenment), so it's not a free for all, as implied in the original poster's comment.