I had never really thought about the fact that it is unusual that Rx is often not done as a copay and/or subject to deductible, though I’m sure some plans do it that way. Perhaps a conspiracy between Big Health Insurance and Big Pharma ;-)

While it is true that paying more is better than having no insurance: (a) WAY too many people are in the latter situation; and (b) it’s not paying “a little more,” but often a lot more. I can tell you that because I’ve gone through the futile exercise of comparing “sticker price” of a small group plan with the “true price” after underwriting, and the difference has been very significant, turning what appeared to be an attractive price compared to the current plan into a very unattractive one.

One can say it’s fair and right to vary the price based on health discrimination (my term) or usage (yours). But that detracts severely from the risk-sharing concept of insurance. And remember, today’s healthy modest user who would be “overpaying” under a uniform premium regime can become an unhealthy user in a matter of minutes, with an accident, heart attack, cancer diagnosis, etc.