Why Is Healthcare So Complicated?

Healthcare in the United States is infamously complicated, and unnecessarily so.  

Figuring out health insurance, whether through a group plan or on your own is a headache in and of itself, but then you add on top of that any medical stress you may already be feeling when you visit a doctor’s office. The problem boils down to trying to provide accessible, quality healthcare while still being able to compensate healthcare workers fairly. The balance is difficult and sometimes seems impossible.  

What are the problems we have to overcome, and is there a chance the system could ever change?

Workers and Patients in Healthcare

One of the main difficulties with healthcare is the sheer volume of patients and healthcare workers. With nearly 332 million Americans who all need healthcare, it’s a big ship to turn around. Not only are there a lot of patients, but the healthcare industry is one of the nation’s biggest employers, with over 15 million workers. It’s hard to reform a system with so many involved while keeping everyone happy at the same time.  

Third Party Insurance Companies

Third-party companies or organizations are often the reason for the high costs of healthcare. When you have so many middlemen, each person along the way requires compensation for “doing their job”. Unfortunately, these additional costs come out of patients’ pockets in the form of high insurance prices.

In addition, these third parties usually aren’t interested in simplifying the process or cutting any costs because that would mean less revenue (or no revenue at all) for themselves.  

If payments were lowered with these third parties still involved, that would lead to under-compensated doctors and healthcare workers along with underfunded hospitals and clinics around the country, leaving everyone to suffer the consequences.  

The Differences in Insurance

To further complicate the healthcare industry are the differences in types of insurance and what all they cover. Unknown acronyms like PPO, HMO, and HDHPs are thrown about while patients spend countless amounts of time researching which plan is the right one for them.  

Both the insurance company you use and the plan you pay for affect which doctors you can visit, which hospitals can treat you, and even what type of care you can receive. If you need to have a certain procedure or surgery and your insurance doesn’t cover it, you either have to opt out or pay completely out of pocket, which could mean thousands of dollars in medical debt.

This system unfairly favors those who are wealthy and usually healthy, as some insurances make those with underlying health concerns (or even possible future concerns) pay higher premiums for the same coverage.

A Moral Dilemma in Care

The ethical dilemma facing healthcare specialists is providing fair access and affordability to all. With older or chronically ill patients needing more care, their premiums would be through the roof unless they were subsidized by the fairly healthy paying their own premiums. But without mandated health insurance, many healthy individuals opt out of health insurance, or at least high premiums, saving money by just paying out of pocket for a few doctor’s visits each year. In the end, this means healthcare for those that especially need it, is completely unaffordable.

The Direct Healthcare Option

With all the problems in healthcare, it can feel like it is too big of a complicated mess to clean up. And how could you do it while still benefiting both patients and healthcare providers?  

One way is to simplify the process with direct healthcare. Nomi Health is an example of a direct healthcare approach that takes out the third parties that tend to make healthcare so expensive and complicated. This allows patients to pay directly to providers and fairly compensates doctors without overwhelming patients. It simplifies the costs and billing process so that no one has to pay any third party fees.

Nomi Health’s mission is to simplify the healthcare process by eliminating third parties and taking you directly to providers. The stress of medical care is already a lot. Let Nomi simplify your healthcare and your life.

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