[rogerbinns]

Just because it is called insurance doesn't mean it actually is. The health care industry is pay by activity/procedure/items consumed, and everyone has a vested interest in others not knowing what is paid while (usually) increasing activity. In general everyone is spending someone else's money.

"insurance" doesn't cover catastrophic stuff (there is some) but also covers everyday things like checkups. (The analogy is car insurance covering oil changes and tire rotations.) You'll pay a deductible (eg $30), the insurance company will pay the health provider, you'll get half a rain forest full of numbers in the mail, none of which reflect who actually paid what to whom. (There are extra negotiated charges and discounts between various parties.) The health care providers try to make their numbers as large as possible.

"Insurance" companies won't make money if they pay out, so they have all sorts of limits. For example there may be annual or lifetime limits which are trivial to hit in cases like this.

The various estimates are that around 70% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills and that 75% of those are people who had insurance. Example story http://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148

This was my experience just trying to get some blood tests http://www.rogerbinns.com/blog/gplus/the-first-rule-of-the-a...