> It would be in the insurance companies’ interests to band together to fund the research so they can save huge amounts of money in the long term but they do not do this.
Insurance companies do not want cheaper care.
In the US, insurance companies must spend 80% of premiums on care. So if you pay $1k/mo, they have to pay out at least $800/mo in care. (Not to you specifically, but averaged out across all subscribers.)
This is a cap on their potential profits. They always have to pay out 80% of premiums for care, so how do they make more money?
Well, imagine care is twice as expensive. Instead of paying $800, they have to pay $1600. That sounds worse, but, instead of $200/mo, they now $400/mo for themselves!
So, no, paradoxically, it is not in the interest of people paying for the treatment to save money. Quite the opposite.
> So, no, paradoxically, it is not in the interest of people paying for the treatment to save money. Quite the opposite.
I'll assume they're on company insurance. Which is often "self-insured" in that the company actually foots the bill as opposed to the insurance company.
Why don't corporations just drop insurance companies that decide to not allow cheaper medicines?
UNH is so big because its customer Apple has its own pool. Apple deducts $24k/y for your healthcare. Healthy 29 year old male doesn't use anything. UNH denies the claims anyway. It gives that money back to Apple, which doesn't give it to you.
The 80% rule has a lot of loopholes. It doesn't apply to employer funded plans. There's a reason UNH is so big!
They operate with similar supply and demand constraints and competition, even with prices increasing
>Insurance companies do not want cheaper care.
Why is there a continuous stream of healthcare providers threatening to or becoming out of network for various managed care organizations because they cannot come to an agreement on healthcare prices?