The rule might have made things even worse, since now total costs have to go up for their profit to go up.
Contrast this with a non-profit which has no incentive to increase profits and thus no incentive to increase costs.
I agree that these conversations mainly reveal to me that many people don't understand the economics driving costs in US healthcare, since they are so willing to carry water for private insurers.
> since now total costs have to go up for their profit to go up.
And yet, they deny claims, despite that denying a claim reduces their profits.
> to carry water for private insurers.
Because insurance it utterly irrelevant to the issue. The problems in the US lie at the Dr/Hospital level, not the insurance. Procedures simply cost too much, having the government pay for them will just makes things worse because government always overpays for things.
You want to solve things? Make medical tuition free, and remove ALL caps on number of doctors (especially difficult with residency, but it can be done). Then reduce rates for services.
Someone should start a fully integrated company: They educate you, find you a residency, and hire you. In exchange for free tuition you agree to work for lower rates. (There will need to be some details to work out obviously, since you can't force people to work.)
Whatever their reasons for denying claims, capricious denials is the main complaint people have about insurance, so it doesn't really feel any better if it doesn't actually increase their profits. Out of curiosity, why do you think they deny claims of it has nothing to do with profitability? Is denying claims just fun?
It's actually comical to claim insurance is irrelevant.
Billions of dollars of middlemen creating makework inserted into the process surely adds no costs, and is completely irrelevant to how much it costs. The waste generated in hospital billing departments is free, since people famously love working for billing departments and will do it for free. Commercial real estate for healthcare company buildings is also free, and so are the salaries of all the people that work for them. Not to mention their role in creating price opacity, allowing prices to rise unchecked and having different prices for different payers, also has no effect on prices. The stress that patient dissatisfaction (or outright getting fucked) causes providers is also completely free and causes no waste.
I've come to discover that most people really do not understand healthcare insurance at all.
The true driver of increased costs is Dr's and Hospitals. Not insurance.