The Register was hinting at how ridiculous the health insurance situation is, so, TL;DR of that aspect:
> [...] and nothing out of the ordinary showed up on a routine X-ray and an MRI wasn't possible due to insurance delays. [...] A week later, Rogers started losing some sensation in his hands and tried to have the MRI rescheduled, but the approval from his insurance company never came. [...] "Overnight I lost all sensation, all mobility, and became quadriplegic. [...] He begins a course of physical therapy today, but his insurance will only cover the first of three required weeks, [...]
In isolation, that last bit would only sound like normal unconscionable practices of a health insurance company. But in context of their prior shittiness resulting in great harm to the insured, it's like they're doubling-down. Are they so untouchable, that they don't have to care about optics?
I hope a really good lawyer contacts the victim, and they successfully sue the insurance company for a billion dollars. And that that provides a template for other victims to sue. A billion here, a billion there, and, pretty soon, and even the most sociopathic execs and boards have to start rethinking their practices.
Another poster here wrote that the profit margins at those companies are about 6%, and the overall costs on the order of 30%. Meaning that if the profit drops to zero, the health insurer could only pay for eight days instead of seven without raising premiums, and if the profit and total salaries drop to zero, only for about 11 days instead of seven. 11 is far from the needed 21.
If you want to blame someone, consider blaming the avaricious premium payers. And consider going easy on the blame. Blaming is easy but it makes you see people as avaricious when that's not reasonable.
I think you're implying that a firing a few people with those nice million-dollar salaries and spending those millions on hospital care would make a significant difference. But the US is a country where a single hospital stay can cost a million dollars.
Fire the highest-paid executive and pay for ten hospital treatments. Fire the next-highest, nine more. At some point you've fired all employees at all insurers, can't pay for lack of employees to do the chores, and even at that point the savings cover only a few of the rejected applications.
> [...] and nothing out of the ordinary showed up on a routine X-ray and an MRI wasn't possible due to insurance delays. [...] A week later, Rogers started losing some sensation in his hands and tried to have the MRI rescheduled, but the approval from his insurance company never came. [...] "Overnight I lost all sensation, all mobility, and became quadriplegic. [...] He begins a course of physical therapy today, but his insurance will only cover the first of three required weeks, [...]
In isolation, that last bit would only sound like normal unconscionable practices of a health insurance company. But in context of their prior shittiness resulting in great harm to the insured, it's like they're doubling-down. Are they so untouchable, that they don't have to care about optics?
I hope a really good lawyer contacts the victim, and they successfully sue the insurance company for a billion dollars. And that that provides a template for other victims to sue. A billion here, a billion there, and, pretty soon, and even the most sociopathic execs and boards have to start rethinking their practices.