b'Associate Member News If Insurance CompaniesPAID for LASIK Eye Surgery. It Would Cost a Whole Lot More! 2000-2024In an effort to contrast what I considered to be a pretty modestPRICE Increase price increase for elective eye surgery with the increase inComparisonother major medical care, I consulted the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker which examines general medical inflation. According to that measurement, the price of medical care (including services provided as well as insurance, drugs and medi-cal equipment) has increased 119.2% from 2000 to 2024. This is almost four times more than the increase for elective eye surgery!Of course, all this ci-pherin begs the ques-tion of why a life-changing elective surgery like LASIK ) ehas remained fairly saeaffordable whileINrcnmedically nec- E iLessary care hasA %2.Sexceeded the basicT 91CPI inflation rate byI 1C - such a large mar yrG a gin. As mentionedo ssabove, I would submiteod cits because the basics c/S eeconomic principles ofeNrv lysupply and demand applyic ale cto elective medical pro- s idcedures, but they generally(E ele Mdo not apply to non-electivect(iv ndmedically necessary care that ise E ay emmost often paid for by third-partye S \\Dinsurance companies (or by otherurg plyer pthird-party benefit plans like self-fundedy - LASIK 82.4 IC - Suemployer plans or government programs). % increase) ELASTIn other words, when insurance covers a medicalprocedure, the consumer is insulated from the actual cost of the care because he or she isnt paying a significant portion of the cost. Most of the time, the insured member only pays aIt is also why we have the most expensive healthcare system flat copayment or a small percentage of the care and isnt reallyin the worldby a huge margin! This problem is even more affected by the true cost of an increase in price. This is one of theblatant when a state or the federal government passes a law that main reasons why the American healthcare system is so ineffi- mandates that insurance companies must pay 100% of the cost of cient and expensive. certain care while insureds pay nothing. Those laws totally insu-WPMA News / Summer 202455'