Whatever their reasons for denying claims, capricious denials is the main complaint people have about insurance, so it doesn't really feel any better if it does

Whatever their reasons for denying claims, capricious denials is the main complaint people have about insurance, so it doesn't really feel any better if it doesn't actually increase their profits. Out of curiosity, why do you think they deny claims of it has nothing to do with profitability? Is denying claims just fun? It's actually comical to claim insurance is irrelevant. Billions of dollars of middlemen creating makework inserted into the process surely adds no costs, and is completely irrelevant to how much it costs. The waste generated in hospital billing departments is free, since people famously love working for billing departments and will do it for free. Commercial real estate for healthcare company buildings is also free, and so are the salaries of all the people that work for them. Not to mention their role in creating price opacity, allowing prices to rise unchecked and having different prices for different payers, also has no effect on prices. The stress that patient dissatisfaction (or outright getting fucked) causes providers is also completely free and causes no waste.