Hacker News Reader

Comment by drweevil | Hacker News Reader

>"The sometimes celebratory attitude of such a broad swath of Americans on Wednesday felt like an embrace of that same sort of nihilism."

I couldn't disagree more with this facile comparison. The thing is, we all are someone's loved one, beloved father/mother, etc. And yet the people decrying these reactions shrug and walk away when the victim is anonymous and the violence comes in the form of denying people life-saving care--for profit--something that happens routinely in this country. It isn't a 9mm bullet, but it is just as deliberate and every bit as devastating to those involved, as all too many of us are. And it sure doesn't help matters when peaceful political attempts at solving this problem are constantly derailed by this powerful industry's lobby.

View on HN

The US's embrace of a extremely greedy and uncaring for-profit health insurance industry is what is actually nihilistic. Every dollar of profit a health insurance company makes should have paid for healthcare for someone.

Every healthcare system in the world including the socialized ones denies some patients life-saving care. Care will always be rationed regardless of whether some entities are making a profit.

The reason for the denial is important. Also worth noting that our attempts to improve availability are actively resisted to maintain that profit.

Yeah, denying because it means more profits isn't okay. The fact that these insurance companies are publicly traded and have to maximize value for shareholders creates even more of the wrong incentives.

These should be not-for-profit entities, with appropriate controls.

Many private health insurance companies are not-for-profit, including such large organizations as many of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association licensees, HighMark, EmblemHealth, etc. Their coverage and claim processing policies are pretty similar to the for-profit companies.

And private health insurers generally don't make more profit by denying claims. Due to the ACA minimum medical loss ratio rule it's rather the opposite. When claims are denied it's usually due to decisions made by self-funded employers that sponsor health plans for their employees. The insurers are mostly just acting as administrators for those plans rather than providing any real insurance.

How does this justify UHC's denial rate being double the industry average?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com