Why doesn't the American market provide efficient and effective health insurance like it does for car insurance?
Car insurance is relatively simple. I shop around, telling them how much coverage I want. They request my driving history, and give me a quote. At any time, I can shop around and change insurance policies without any problems. Once it's time to collect payment, it's a relatively simple matter. What makes health insurance so difficult, controlling, unreliable, and expensive? For example, with health insurance:
Can only shop during a specific enrollment period
Policies are so complex, the vast majority of the population can't understand them
It's commonly provided in part by the employer because buying a policy otherwise is prohibitively expensive
Insurance companies are notorious for denying payments
Because the customer and user are not the same people and insurance is keeping the costomer happy. High prices mean I cannot afford to quit my job or retire early. I have to have a job to have any form of insurance at all. It is great for the hr department that buys my insurance. In theory I can buy my own on the market but that means the thousand dollars a month my employer is paying gets thrown away.