3 ms·

>information asymmetry may lead to loss of profits. How would this work? You learn of some (useful?) information about your genetics and eat better? And that a

• applecrazy 6y ago
  No, they're worried that patients might find out that they have a genetic disposition to disease X, and increase their level of coverage so that when that disease does come along, the insurance company has to shell out for its treatment.
  • aspenmayer 6y ago
    I think there’s another part in that they hope to know more about your health than you do. In fact it seems like the entire private healthcare system is designed to have more information on patients, caregivers, pharmacists and so on than the patients know about themselves. All of this is so they can write policies that make them the most money for the company while shortchanging your health outcomes and your health care providers. Why else would cost of hypothetical future potentially-avoidable preventive care be a worry to a health insurance company? One would think that such predictable expenses are one of the only sure things in the health care system. They know what most people implicitly know but effectively deny indirectly via ignorant inaction: what you don’t know, can hurt you. The insurance companies also know this.