I'm all in favor of universal health care, but having universal (private) insurance without a collective bargaining system raises a lot of problems. For example, here in Italy car insurance is mandatory, but people choose where to make their car repairs, and prices aren't regulated in any way. The results: Once I went for a repair, and got quoted something like 150€ - I told the repairman I thought I was covered by my insurance. Then I discovered that particular problem wasn't covered, and well - the prices magically came down to 70€ "You know sir, with insurances we have all those additional costs...".
"You know sir, with insurances we have all those additional costs...".
Well, with many insurance companies there can be an additional cost. Submitting the claims, filling out the paperwork, proving the work was done, etc... all add up. Depending on how much work a person does with an insurance company it could easily add up to another full time employee.
> "You know sir, with insurances we have all those additional costs...".
Two possible issues here. First, it _does_ cost more to reclaim payment from an insurance company than to get it from the consumer. There are the forms to be considered, and also the fact that insurers often pay substantially in arrears. Also, did you end up paying cash? Some providers of services like this will prefer a cash deal, as they do not necessarily plan to declare it.
Hehe, in Italy the "do not necessarily plan to declare" is unfortunately all too common. But I'm sure I required a fiscal receipt, so in this case that wasn't the origin of the price difference.
