UnitedHealth's Effort to Deny Coverage for a Patient's Care (2023) • Hacker News Board

Re: UnitedHealth's Effort to Deny Coverage for a Patient's Care (2023)

#391

Post by cruffle_duffle » Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 2:02 AM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #390

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Make it personal for thousands of people and some of them will inevitably be radicalized. I fully understand the motive and can empathize with the alleged assailant but that doesn’t mean I am celebrating the fact somebody got murdered. Being able to empathize and understand the motives doesn’t make what the person who shot that dude morally or ethically right.

> Being able to empathize and understand the motives doesn’t make what the person who shot that dude morally or ethically right. Never said it does bro.

You might not but go look at Reddit. The glee and cheerfulness is absolutely disgusting.

That being said, odds are looking like this dude is just a nutcase… and yet again Reddit’s hive mind will look like a fool.

Re: UnitedHealth's Effort to Deny Coverage for a Patient's Care (2023)

#392

Post by toastercat » Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 5:08 PM UTC

breadwinner wrote: post #359

toastercat wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm willing to take a risk there because if my car craps out, I'll buy another. Wish I can say the same about health. If the doctor who has my entire medical history recommends x procedure, yes I'm not going to risk potentially having irreversible damage to my body.

> If the doctor who has my entire medical history You think your primary care physician is the one that recommends surgery, and not a specialist?

Huh?? Did I say that?? The specialists I see also have my medical history.

Re: UnitedHealth's Effort to Deny Coverage for a Patient's Care (2023)

#393

Post by readthenotes1 » Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

epicureanideal wrote: post #30

readthenotes1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, before that (and continuing), the largest customer of drugs in the United States is prohibited from negotiating price for most drugs. The exorbitant costs arose with the provision of private medical insurance in the 1940s but only really took off when Medicare and Medicaid came in the 1969s with, essentially, a blank check for cost. Things weren't improved in the 1980s when emergency rooms were required to prov…

> leading to another perversion that for a significant group of people the only way to get medical care was when it was too late and most expensive Too bad the hospitals don’t figure out some way of providing preventive care to the uninsured to reduce these costs.

If I understand the money flow properly, the government reimburses the ER in some way, removing incentive for the hospital to reduce costs.

Re: UnitedHealth's Effort to Deny Coverage for a Patient's Care (2023)

#394

Post by consteval » Thu, Dec 12, 2024, 5:51 AM UTC

breadwinner wrote: post #138

Insurance companies are hardly the only ones at fault here. Hospitals and Pharma companies are guilty of price gouging [1]. When insurance pays hospitals hike up the prices. When the patient pays (such as for cosmetic or plastic surgery) the prices charged by hospitals and doctors are more reasonable. [1] https://www.dolthub.com/blog/2022-05-31-hospital-price-gougi...

It's nobody's fault, it's the obvious and guaranteed result of a capitalist, for-profit healthcare industry. This is not only expected, but unavoidable.

If health insurance typically only covers 150 dollars for a procedure, but one super duper premium plan may cover 600, you charge 600. End of. Because otherwise, what happens when patients with that super duper plan come in? You only make 150 instead of 600.

Would you want to get paid 150 instead of 600? No, you wouldn't. Survey every American. None would. We aren't stupid.

So, you charge 600, and by the shackles of capitalism, you have no choice. Your hands are tied - that decision is already made for you by the systems in place.