Insurance Is the Inflation: Your Health Plan Costs the Same as a Tesla Model Y, and What Collective Health is Doing to Fix it

This episode hits the affordability crisis head-on, as Blake sits down with Ali Diab, CEO and co-founder of Collective Health (https://collectivehealth.com/). Ali started the company after his own hospital claim got denied, and has spent the decade since building what he calls the “Stripe” of healthcare benefits — for employers today, and potentially insurers and health systems tomorrow. In this episode, Ali makes the case that health insurance itself is the real inflationary catalyst in American healthcare.  Ali doesn't do the polite version. He calls the MLR a cost-plus contract, compares network "discounts" to markdowns off the Neiman Marcus price, and told me about the time he was charged $340 in coinsurance for a $125 knee brace on his own company's plan.  We dig into why self-insurance and direct contracting are eating the fully-insured market alive, why small employers are legally boxed out of self-funding, and why he thinks healthcare pricing needs an SEC. Also: World Cup takes. Ali's a winger-turned-number-nine and I broke two leg bones playing this sport, so we earned the tangent. Follow Ali Diab on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alidiab/ Follows Collective Health on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/collectivehealth/home/ \--- Navvis partners with health systems and health plans to deliver real performance improvement across value-based care and fee-for-service models. ⁠https://navvishealthcare.com/vbc⁠ \--- For expert analysis on healthcare M&A, strategy, finance, and markets, join 68K+ readers of Blake Madden’s Hospitalogy newsletter. Subscribe here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like our podcast? Check our previous episodes of Claims Denied here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://hospitalogy.com/podcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be sure to leave us a review, and share our podcast with colleagues. Follow Blake Madden on LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakecmadden/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠