AboutPaul Walker Expertise I can answer most questions relating to Expatriate Medical and Health Insurance. UK Health Insurance and most Pan European Models. Additionally, persons looking to pay for surgery without insurance in the UK and parts of Europe. I am based in the UK but deal mainly with International Healthcare Plans.
Experience
Past/Present clients We deal with everyone from Individuals and Families through to large corporations.
Question I often hear the statement that prices have gone down in lasik surgery and cosmetic surgery, where there is no insurer, as part of the national health care debate, as part of the argument that health insurance is a major reason why health costs are so high.
But these procedures are relatively cheap. An individual could pay for these out of personal savings, but major operations are extremely expensive and we need insurance for that. My question is, how do Health Saving Accounts come into this picture? I'm trying to see if there is a connection here. Thanks.
Answer Hi David,
The reason why some procedure costs are cheaper to 'the man in the street' than to the insurer is largely due to two reasons.
Firstly, it will be a common procedure that has few areas for complications etc, and therefore carried out in a more cost efficient manner. Secondly, when you go to a hospital to 'pay-as-you-go', you would be required to pay for the procedure in advance.
This is both good for the hospital cash flow as paid in advance, and combined with the fact that there is no insurance company attached, means that there is no need for typical administration costs such as chasing payment and reissuing invoices etc.
You are correct in your observation that procedure costs can vary considerably. It is a posible negative to use an insurer for minor claims due to thier administrative burden, however an insurer comes into their own if your procedure is complex and longer-term.
HSA's sit somewhere in the middle, if a minor claim and paid by the memebr for reimbursement later, they can be beneficial, equally for the more complex arfeas, the insurer will haver to deal direct with the hospital - so in essence no different to a normal insurance scenario.
The big problem with insurance is that the only people who truly understand the value of it are those claiming, for all of us who are lucky enough not to need treatment, it feels like a financial burden... however, how many of us will sleep easy not having something in place should problems arise...
