3 ms·
Competitive? In every job I've had it was basically the same 3-4 HMOs: Aetna, Bluecross, Cigna, and United Healthcare. If you are getting employer provided heal
by yardie 3y ago
Competitive? In every job I've had it was basically the same 3-4 HMOs: Aetna, Bluecross, Cigna, and United Healthcare. If you are getting employer provided healthplans, as most Americans are, those are your options, 4. With so few options you aren't choosing the most competitive, you're choosing the lease worst.
- paulddraper 3y agoHumana, Kaiser, Oscar. But yes, there is an intense economy-of-scale that produces relatively few insurance companies. (Maybe eventually only one.)
- yardie 3y agoOscar I've never heard of but appears to be only available in NY/NJ and is operated by Cigna in other states. Kaiser operates primarily in the west coast. And Humana doesn't have much presence in Florida. They primarily do Medicare Advantage, AFAICT.
- paulddraper 3y agoOscar is a new-age insurance startup, which is why people here may have heard it. There are quite a few regional insurance companies. Like here in Utah a big name is Selecthealth, but no one else will have heard it. National carriers are a safer/easier choice for employers who have a distributed workforce.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThat is because the messed up pre-tax benefit the US gives to big businesses so they have (another) advantage over small businesses, so you are buying from whoever your employer chooses to let you buy from. Ideally, everyone in the US would have to buy health insurance from healthcare.gov, and can choose whoever they want with zero input from their employer.
- yardie 3y agoI would prefer to buy my health insurance on the open market. But without the subsidies its pretty uneconomical. The fact that your employer offering it automatically locks you out of the best plans on the marketplace is anticompetitive and anti-labour.