To me, it feels facile, even cruel, to put so much blame on the the insurers when US laws and regulations have created every incentive for insurers to behave exactly as the they do and no incentive not to. Their behavior is entirely predictable.
Why is there not more criticism and blame put on our legislators and regulators who have done so little for the suffering public?
Is there any area of the market where we would expect that participants will all routinely act against their own self-interest and for the benefit of others? Markets have to be structured and regulated so that participants are incentivized to behave well. The US has not done that.
I'd be more inclined to sympathy if it were not for the well-documented fact that the overwhelming majority of healthcare-related legislation is drafted by lobby groups working on behalf of the health insurance industry. They literally designed the legislative framework that incentivizes shit medical outcomes. Hell, the mere existence of their business model creates moral hazard.
It is par for the course that businesses will lobby for their interests. That doesn't excuse our representatives for selling us out for a steak dinner and a first class flight to the Bahamas or whatever. We must holder our leaders to a higher standard than that.
The anger here on HN seems focused on the greed of the insurance companies, but that corporations tend to optimize for profit should surprise exactly no one. Where's the anger at our corrupt government?
To be be 100% clear, I'm not saying don't blame or criticize insurance companies executives. I'm saying that only blaming the insurance companies implicitly gives a free pass to our representatives who pass laws written by lobbyists. That is both unfair and counter productive, since the government is actually in a position to fix these issues.
>The anger here on HN seems focused on the greed of the insurance companies, but that corporations tend to optimize for profit should surprise exactly no one. Where's the anger at our corrupt government?
I imagine the anger is on them because one of them was murdered this week. I think a lot of us recognize that this isn't a black-and-white issue and that there's a lot of blame to go around. But when something like this happens to a specific part of the issue, of course we're likely to hone in on that in the immediate short-term.
Why is there not more criticism and blame put on our legislators and regulators who have done so little for the suffering public?
Is there any area of the market where we would expect that participants will all routinely act against their own self-interest and for the benefit of others? Markets have to be structured and regulated so that participants are incentivized to behave well. The US has not done that.