Let me start by saying that health insurers could do a lot more to advance quality of care. That being said, why is it that all you and Wendell ever do is continue to lead with articles that show nothing but the bad side of health insurers. What about the tens of millions of Americans each year who haven't experienced problems with pre-authorization or denied claims. I have been in the group and individual medical insurance business (on the agent/broker side) for better part of 30 years. At best, I can recall that about 2 dozen times I have had to deal with denied claims. Most of those were ER claims that we initially denied as the reason for the visit wasn't considered legitimate by Blue Cross Blue Shield. The balance were for other reasons, and all but one were rectified through my intervention, to the satisfaction of the patient! I will say that PA denials have become more common of late. But again, the vast majority are approved without risk to the patient.
Again, I am not denying that there aren't ongoing problems with claims and PA's. Health insurers could do a much better if they embraced the primary care model more aggressively. I never hear from Wendell or Preston about all the successful claims and PA's. It's always the same narrative; "Medicare for All". Yes, we can all point to other countries that spend much less than the U.S. on health care. But they embrace primary care, which is essential to lowering cost to medical care, as well as care rationing. Just across our northern border, the average wait to see a orthopedic surgeon is 18 months, then another 12 months for joint replacement. However, the elites never wait that long as there is always two health care systems, one for the socialists and the other for the people!
Thanks for the last sentence recap- that, as a ‘no smarter than a fifth grader’, I understand!
Haha, I am here to serve
Heads up. Warren Buffett doesn't own Aflac. He does own GEICO.
Thanks for pointing that out! I originally wrote Geico and then thought, wait I always get this one mixed up, must be Aflac. I’ll update.
Bravo, Preston. Thanks for the insights.
Thanks so much, I appreciate you reading!
Let me start by saying that health insurers could do a lot more to advance quality of care. That being said, why is it that all you and Wendell ever do is continue to lead with articles that show nothing but the bad side of health insurers. What about the tens of millions of Americans each year who haven't experienced problems with pre-authorization or denied claims. I have been in the group and individual medical insurance business (on the agent/broker side) for better part of 30 years. At best, I can recall that about 2 dozen times I have had to deal with denied claims. Most of those were ER claims that we initially denied as the reason for the visit wasn't considered legitimate by Blue Cross Blue Shield. The balance were for other reasons, and all but one were rectified through my intervention, to the satisfaction of the patient! I will say that PA denials have become more common of late. But again, the vast majority are approved without risk to the patient.
Again, I am not denying that there aren't ongoing problems with claims and PA's. Health insurers could do a much better if they embraced the primary care model more aggressively. I never hear from Wendell or Preston about all the successful claims and PA's. It's always the same narrative; "Medicare for All". Yes, we can all point to other countries that spend much less than the U.S. on health care. But they embrace primary care, which is essential to lowering cost to medical care, as well as care rationing. Just across our northern border, the average wait to see a orthopedic surgeon is 18 months, then another 12 months for joint replacement. However, the elites never wait that long as there is always two health care systems, one for the socialists and the other for the people!
How, precisely, does UHG "control access to healthcare for over 100M people" when their total enrollment is 50M?