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Buying health insurance is a lot like renting an apartment. Finding the perfect place is hard, and the price is always higher than you expect. But if it is conveniently close to your employer and there are few other affordable options, you sign the lease and agree to all of the terms. Only after a few monthly payments do you realize electricity, heat, water, and snow removal are not included. What was affordable now seems out of reach. And when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the landlord raises the rent to help pay for the unoccupied apartment across the hall or, even worse, to help subsidize the owner’s mansion.
That is exactly what buying health insurance has become. Paying into a system that doesn’t pay back. Premiums are skyrocketing at the same time, and reimbursements have gone down. Patients not only have to pay co-pays but also have high deductibles that they are never met. The excuse is always the rising cost of care in a shared risk model, but if you are paying for practically all of your health care out of pocket, who else is taking on risk but you?