Their product is the diversification of risk. You are only stuck paying a set payment in perpetuity instead of risking bankruptcy over cancer.
The issue is that the economic forces at play are not consensual (I can’t shop around life saving procedures), so the government needs to do price fixing
In that case, the real economic problem is that you're not able to choose your own insurance, when you're getting it through your employer.
So market forces don't work. You aren't able to say "hey, I heard your company doesn't pay for cancer treatments. I'm taking my premium dollars elsewhere."
Just to expound a little more: imagine if your access to grocery stores worked the same way. Like, most people got their "grocery insurance" through their employer.
No stores would just sell you food. Or maybe they would, at a 10,000 percent markup, or more.
They "pool" risk. Out of 100,000 people, x people will have heart surgery, y people will have gall bladder surgery, and z people will cancer and need chemo.
We're talking huge medical bills, right? But $350 a month isn't terrible -- and if you have one of those conditions, they pay your bills.
There's a lot more to it than that, but that's basically how it works. Or, how it SHOULD work.
P.S. For-profit health insurance could more accurately be called "blackmail," where they knot a plastic bag around your head and sell you as much oxygen as you think you'll need.
It's because we live in a corporatocracy and those big businesses run our government. This is also why we have accountants that tell you what the government should already be telling you.
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The issue is that the economic forces at play are not consensual (I can’t shop around life saving procedures), so the government needs to do price fixing
They're SELLING their services, as if you'll GET CANCER TREATMENT WHILE AVOIDING BANKRUPTCY.
It's turned into a system where you pay them and get nothing.
So market forces don't work. You aren't able to say "hey, I heard your company doesn't pay for cancer treatments. I'm taking my premium dollars elsewhere."
No stores would just sell you food. Or maybe they would, at a 10,000 percent markup, or more.
What do you think that store is going to be like? What's the selection going to be like? How clean is the store gonna be?
They know you can't just go get a Costco membership. Your boss didn't do a deal with them.
Lack of competition in both choice of insurance and care, makes it an industry that needs to be reformed
We're talking huge medical bills, right? But $350 a month isn't terrible -- and if you have one of those conditions, they pay your bills.
P.S. For-profit health insurance could more accurately be called "blackmail," where they knot a plastic bag around your head and sell you as much oxygen as you think you'll need.
NOT-for-profit is VITAL.
Whatever the fuck we are, it isn't human obiously, to them at least.