Comment by frompdx

A lot of people are focusing on why insurance is complicated in the United States, but I'll do my best to answer why tech has not made this more simple.

  Why tech hasn't simplified health insurance?

There are no incentives for an insurance company to make the process easier. Their incentives are complying with the law while minimizing payouts. Insurance companies make large technology investments in making this happen. Providers are also incentivized by complying with the law, but instead of minimizing payouts they maximize their billing to the insurance company. They too make large technology investments in making this happen. No one is incentivized to make any of this easier for the patient, so why would they pay for tech to solve that?

Beyond that, yes there are regulations that make things complicated. Chiefly HIPAA, but also the ACA. The real challenge is a solution that makes everything more simple for the patient while appealing to providers and insurance companies that have conflicting incentives. Is there a tech solution for this?