(March 5, 2013 at 2:06 pm)John V Wrote: The problem is insurance that pays for every doctor visit and lab procedure. It really isn't insurance, which is supposed to be a pooling of interests to safeguard against catastrophic loss. There's no incentive for people to consider whether a particular procedure is necessary or to shop around for a better price. IMO a lot of our health care cost problems would be eliminated simply by moving everyone to a relatively high deductible plan.
Perhaps that would help in some cases, but it's far from a panacea.
I've been on a high-deductible plan for about six years. Due to my personal situation, I know that I'll meet my deductible every year, and I'm covered 100% after that. Because of that, I have zero incentive to shop around, etc. - it's actually to my advantage to reach my deductible as quickly as possible (though I make no particular effort to do so).
Plus, as Min said, it's a lot more complicated than that.
