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Comment by zzzzzzzzzman | Hacker News Reader

I appreciate your response :)

The real question is why are medical procedures so artificially expensive.

The only thing I would really need medical insurance for is a rare emergency procedure like an appendectomy. Information online says an appendectomy can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $150,000.

Why is there such a deviation? This is how insurance companies make their money.

When we consider that medical insurance in the USA is several hundred dollars per month, $1,500 out of pocket seems completely reasonable.

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Oh, and another thing:

> The only thing I would really need medical insurance for is a rare emergency procedure like an appendectomy.

If you need an appendectomy, then you do not have time to fiddle around and comparison shop for medical insurance. If an appendix needs to come out, then it needs to come out ASAP (otherwise, the appendix could burst, causing sepsis). And there's no insurance provider on the planet that will take on a new customer and cover a procedure done before the customer's policy goes into effect.

Let me guess: you also think car insurance is a sham, and that you shouldn't be required to have it. And if, heaven forfend, you get into a car accident, you can just call up State Farm (or whoever) and get them to retroactively approve a claim for the accident. Am I right?

Sorry, my eyes can only roll so much...

And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many)

> And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many)

If you're paying $300/mo and are reasonably healthy (i.e. not going to the doctor regularly) then you'd save that up in now time. The real fix to all of this is to remove day-to-day care from health insurance and let it be just "insurance" (i.e. not healthcare). They have a bit of that with catastrophic plans but there are limitations on who can sign up for them (which I personally think is really stupid).

Five months is not "now [sic] time".

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