[JohnFen]

My mother got cancer (she survived it, fortunately). She had a fantastic insurance policy, made good money (well above the average income), and had money in the bank.

Her medical costs ended up bankrupting her. That was where the scales fell from my eyes and I learned that what we're taught about the purpose of insurance (to protect us in the case of a catastrophic expense) is just pure BS.

[seanmcdirmid]

Was this before or after the ACA? As far as I understand it, the ACA got rid of ceilings on benefits and added a max pay per year.

[JohnFen]

Much before. But what did her in wasn't benefit ceilings, but rather the insurance company fighting everything they were obligated to pay out. it wore her down. It's very hard to fight the insurance company while at the same time fighting cancer. She got down to 80 pounds, couldn't eat, sleep, or do much of anything more than just hang in there. Constantly engaging in dispute resolution with the insurance company was not something she was capable of.

And they knew it. That's why they fought paying out every nickel. Evil bastards.

If it doesn't show, I have literally nothing good to say about the insurance industry.

[seanmcdirmid]

Ok, I'm just wondering, because I think the law would firmly be on her side if it happened after the ACA was passed (they can no longer call policies with benefit ceilings as health insurance, you have an out of pocket maximum that is pretty hard set in stone...the dispute would just be in if something was covered at all or not). That still leaves plenty of things wrong with our system, of course.

[aniken]

Are there by chance companies you could pay to do this on your behalf as a service? (get the money owed by insurance) Seems like something ChatGPT would be good at, if this doesn’t already exist, and then the company would charge a small percentage of what they force the insurance company to pay. If ChatGPT can ace the bar exam, you’d think it could devour all the related case law and coverage legalese from your policy, and generate effective legal responses.

[wizofaus]

I assume you're using the word "fantastic" as in "imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality"?

[JohnFen]

I mean it as in "much better than average", of course.