Health insurance has helped many people get life saving medical attention that they could never have afforded on their own. Health insurance can be a very good thing.
At the same time, any good thing can be misused or abused...and then it's not a good thing. CEOs of health insurance companies have become greedy--seeking profits over providing quality care. CEO bonuses are in the millions while policy holders are denied benefits and forced to take substandard care through network providers. It's immoral, and so we dropped participation in health insurance networks.
Health insurance companies control their expenses and increase their profits by enrolling providers in “networks”. Networks encourage volume practice, which means that providers agree to a lower fee per client in exchange for network referrals (more clients). Since the fee is set by the insurance company the only way that a provider can influence cash flow is to increase clients or decrease expenses.
Over the long term, increasing the number of clients and decreasing expenses results in lower quality of care. At most counseling centers and mental health clinics, providers schedule clients back-to-back -- as one client leaves, the next is ready to be seen. This results in what I call “assembly line mental health” services. It does not give the provider time to emotionally disengage from the first client and mentally prepare for the next.
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