Can Private Insurance Companies Be Trusted?

[jankren]

I keep hearing about cases of private insurance companies denying claims by patients and reward doctors who reject providing treatments. So whats the point of subscribing to private insurance then?

[JP226]

Well... let's think about this. Private companies have an interest in profits. If they can't be trusted how many people would actually sign up for them? If you got to pay the medical bills, why pay the monthly fee in hopes that one day maybe, possibly they would maybe pay? In the grand scheme of things how much is that probability worth to you? In the case of myself, zero. I'd rather front the cash and buy nicer things with that monthly cash draining out of my pocket.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

My best advise is to get your own little coffer and put your money inside. That's 100% immune to crisis, fraud or confiscation.

[Phier]

I keep hearing about cases of private insurance companies denying claims by patients and reward doctors who reject providing treatments. So whats the point of subscribing to private insurance then?

As a doctor insurance companies can be a pain at times, but almost always when there is an issue, the problem is the patient didn't understand what their benefits really were. My favorite is when they have an HMO and somehow blame me for not being on their HMO when their HMO gives them a list of covered doctors.

[jankren]

Im against national health insurance. However, I would rather get low quality treatment for the little money I pay than paying a lot of money to a private insurance company only to have them denying my claim once Im diagnosed with chronic illness. Its a huge dilemma.

My best advise is to get your own little coffer and put your money inside. That's 100% immune to crisis, fraud or confiscation.

This is a very great idea. However, due to the prevalence of insurance companies in USA the cost of health care is super high, just like car insurance.

[Celsius]

yeah, your thinking of an HMO which basically is the insurance that cheap companies give there employees.

[Nietzsche]

I keep hearing about cases of private insurance companies denying claims by patients and reward doctors who reject providing treatments. So whats the point of subscribing to private insurance then?

As opposed to government insurance like the VA who allows soldiers to wallow in their own maggot infested filth, die of infections preventable by antibiotics, refuse prosthetics in the interest of cutting costs, and deny elder veterans of quality care because of rising costs?

So whats the point of government health insurance?

[jankren]

So how do I know an insurance company wont with me and honor their agreement?

[Phier]

So how do I know an insurance company wont with me and honor their agreement?

Read the policy?

Most sob stories about the evils of insurance are not all entirely true.

[Dr. Croccer]

It depends. Because they're private, they're often rich enough and try to make their company the most effective or at least look effective but because they're private, they tend to be more interested in your money than your welfare.

[♔Jean-Luc Picard♔]

Get the doctors they are trying to screw over to threaten to stop accepting people they cover and they snap back into line. Just ask my mother (ophthalmologist) what she does to get payment out of the stubborn ones. They say they will refuse service to the people the insurance company covers that are not existing patients and the insurance company folds every time. It even worked on Medicaid. They wouldn't cough up what they owed so she no longer sees Medicaid patients. And the only reason she keeps Medicare on is because she specializes in kids and won't turn them away.

In short, threaten their profits and they'll make good and walk the line.

[Dracula]

Insurance is the worst possible payment. For having any object you take the risk yourself. For the insured objects, well .. you take the risk yourself and you pay for it to somebody else