They take our money, and hand it over to hospitals and doctors, while keeping a good portion for themselves. What a waste, huh?
Well, yes and no. To see a really illuminating discussion of health insurance companies, and what they really do, see this blog http://michaelbrownmd.blogspot.com/2010/02/health-insurance-does-not-earn-its.html by Michael Brown– the Chief Information Officer at Harvard University Health Services. Brown shows that, in our current health care “system” (my quotes), insurance companies play a crucial role of negotiating prices with health care providers.
Of course, ideally we wouldn’t need a middle man to control prices–but then again, U.S. law forbids Medicare from even considering costs when making decisions about what services to offer to enrollees.
More on this topic later, but I’m back on hospital service now, and I’ll be busy taking care of patients.
