What happens if you buy your (presumably) cheaper health insurance from a company based in, say, Kansas but you live in expensive California and are buying expensive California doctor visits, services, procedures from providers who have to charge high to stay in business in this state?
How can that Kansas-based insurance company survive, and for how long?
Read my post I just posted.
1. The Kansas-based insurance company won't sell health insurance in California because their plans won't be much cheaper once they have to meet California's coverage requirements. In your scenario, you're not buying a Kansas insurance plan. You're buying a California insurance plan sold by a Kansas company.
2. The doctors in California won't accept patients with the Kansas insurance coverage because they won't be willing to treat patients for the low payments the Kansas insurers will be offering.
“What happens if you buy your (presumably) cheaper health insurance from a company based in, say, Kansas but you live in expensive California and are buying expensive California doctor visits, services, procedures from providers who have to charge high to stay in business in this state?”
Insurance companies negotiate prices with doctors. If there are no doctors from California in the Kansas plan, that would be considered going out of network and the insurance company will not cover the expense.