The growing frustration people feel about their healthcare costs and coverage was put in sharp focus by the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson over two weeks ago. That people across social media appear to be celebrating the brazen killing of a man who ran a health insurer underscores the fact that many people have little idea what health insurers do or why healthcare is expensive. Put simply, insurers are just about the only brake on healthcare costs that exist today.
Doctors want to heal their patients, but they have no incentive to think about the costs they are imposing on the system when they prescribe a treatment or a test: In fact, they often have an incentive to pursue marginal options because they make them more money.
Health insurers try to guard against such things. Their primary task is to manage costs and treatment options, which keeps premiums…
