Cheap Insurance is .... Cheap .....Insurance

The Trump administration is working to empower short term easy-to-buy insurance plans.

These are sometimes known as "association health plans."

Problem is you get what you pay for.

Lousy insurance is only marginally better than no insurance at all. Or maybe worse.

The Affordable Care Act marketplace has better products and some at decent (but not cheap) prices.

Buyer beware.

Ambush Billing

Most people think of a hospital as a large building with lots of departments managed by a central group of executives.

Maybe not.

Increasingly a hospital is a large building full of contractors and subcontractors hired by a central administration.

Problem is, not all of the contractors are necessarily contracted with major insurance companies. This is called OoN or Out of Network.

This is especially prevalent with emergency department contractors.

Sometimes this failure to contract is very intentional... and the resulting billings can be massive as compared to in-network providers.

Both state and federal governments are talking about a fix, and the contractors are directing a fierce lobbying campaign toward protecting ambush billing.