this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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A breast cancer surgeon had to "scrub out mid-surgery" to call a UnitedHealthcare representative because the insurance giant questioned whether the procedure she was in the middle of performing was really necessary.

Dr. Elisabeth Potter posted her story to Instagram this week, and the post has gotten more than 221,000 likes.

Still wearing her scrub cap, Dr. Potter began her video saying, "It’s 2025, and navigating insurance has somehow just gotten worse."

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[–] WhatYouNeed 42 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

Medical insurance companies should be forced to also provide life insurance to the same customer.

Then they have incentive to keep their customers alive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

No, no, they should only be required to provide life insurance for deaths related to refused treatments, but the amount should be massive and punitive. Whoops, you died because we denied your treatment, your next of kin gets several times more than we could have hypothetically saved by denying the treatment.

You can't make it a massive punitive amount of it's general life insurance because everyone dies eventually. But you can if it's for deaths related to a denied treatment, and you can make it high enough that the financial incentive is always in favor of approving necessary treatments.

[–] RagingRobot 30 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Idk if it's only for like 200k and the procedure costs more than that then they have an incentive to kill you

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago

I think it's sick that you can put 250k into your body to heal and that doesn't increase the value of your body. Idk, makes life insurance that much more ghoulish.

[–] candybrie 13 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

In the current scenario, they have to pay nothing if they kill you. It's just pure savings. In the other, they have to pay $200k.

[–] Chip_Rat 9 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

That's true but it's a business. Yes they would prefer to pay nothing but if the law passed they had to cover life insurance then they straight up have a number to beat. If it's gonna cost $200,001 to keep you alive then nope, denied.

[–] webadict 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Your logic is true, but what you're forgetting is that they already have a number to beat, and it's $0.

[–] cashew 6 points 11 hours ago

Technically the number is person's insurance premium over expected natural lifespan. But that number is still going to be lower than medical expenses. Might as well be $0.

[–] candybrie 6 points 12 hours ago

And they currently just deny everything and hope you don't appeal.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Universal healthcare would have the same effect. The government would spend a lot more money on preventative care.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago

Preventative care is DIRT CHEAP compared to any treatment or management of any condition.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

That.... Doesn't sound like a bad thing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 hours ago

It's not, I'm advocating for universal healthcare.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Looking at Canada and Sweden as models, they absolutely do. Getting an actual specialist appointment takes a long long time, but they do get there eventually. And they def do a better job at getting you the meds you need in a timely fashion.

[–] lordkuri 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Getting an actual specialist appointment takes a long long time

Well, thank the gods of capitalism that I only have to wait 5 months to see a specialist (for a basic intake appointment, mind you, not even one for any real treatment) for the debilitating spinal injury that is causing me severe pain and mobility issues every second of every day. I'd hate to have affordable universal health care that might make me wait to see a specialist.

[–] Hazor 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I like this line of thinking, but I expect they'd just lobby to make the life insurance payout requirements lower than the expected cost of treatment.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Lobbying should be handled legally the same as bribes.

[–] candybrie 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

So a-ok as long as it happens after the thing is passed? Because then it's just a tip.