Do insurance companies prioritize profit over patient care?
Insurance companies make billions every year—but does that mean they don’t really care about patients’ health?
That question was addressed in the first episode of a new video series from New York Times Opinion called “Divided.” The April 7 episode featured Troyen Brennan, adjunct professor of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a former insurance executive, and Elisabeth Potter, a plastic surgeon specializing in breast reconstruction. Their conversation was described on the Times Opinion YouTube page as “a rare chance to hear directly from [an insurance executive] engaging with a critic.”
Brennan said he doesn’t think insurance companies prioritize profits over patient care. “I think most insurance companies would believe that patient care is very important and optimal patient care is what they’re trying to help deliver, and that there are not going to be any profits if they don’t take care of the patients,” he said.
Potter responded, “I would say that, yes, they do prioritize profit over patient care. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making money in health care. When I think about finding the right point of balance, there’s been a shift towards profit and away from this autonomous decision making for patients.”
Potter added, “Every time an insurance company calls me about a patient, they’re telling me not to do something that I know is best for my patient.”
Brennan noted, “There’s a lot of inappropriate care that goes on. And so that’s what insurers are trying to basically regulate.”
Brennan and Potter touched on a number of topics during the 40-minute episode, including rising health care costs, Americans’ medical debt, lack of transparency about health care pricing, lack of health care access, doctor burnout, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid cuts.
Watch New York Times Opinion video: Health Insurance Companies Care About You. Agree or Disagree?
