The Complex Mess of Health Insurance


The Kaiser Family Foundation is one of the best sources of information on health care, and it recently convened some focus groups in the Midwest and Pennsylvania. These groups included people who received health insurance through an Obamacare exchange and who also voted for Donald Trump.

You can read about the results in an Op-Ed today by Drew Altman, Kaiser’s chief executive. It underscores how messy and uncertain the coming debate over Obamacare’s future will likely be.

I want to point out one theme that keeps popping up in Altman’s piece — and existed long before Obamcare: A lot of Americans are deeply frustrated by the logistical headaches built into our health care system.

As Altman writes: “They were especially upset by surprise bills for services they believed were covered. They said their coverage was hopelessly complex.” If they had their way, Altman says, their insurance would become “much more understandable.”

I share their frustration, and I imagine most of you do, too. Just this week, a member of my family endured the Kafkaesque experience of being told that she needed to show up for an appointment even if she were no longer sick or face a penalty, thanks to insurance rules.

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