How do insurance companies maximize their profits at the expense of good healthcare? -

Deny, deny, deny. They'll do anything and everything to try to maximize their profits at any cost. They are always planning ways to change expensive benefits, change the language of their policy to give them loopholes to make denials when expensive requests come in, and formulate ways to make almost anything into a preexisting condition. I know we'd all like to believe that they don't really do this, but the bottom line is that they are a business. Most people go into business to make money and the health insurance companies are no different. Ever heard of Linda Peeno? She was a former managed care medical director who was so wracked with guilt from the way she played with peoples' lives as a medical director that she made a teary eyed confession to Congress about the evils of managed care. How? They charge the most they possibly can, and pay out the least they possibly can. The rest is called profit, and they pay that out as dividends to their rich fat cat stock holders. They limit or exclude preventative care. They exclude procedures using new technology or techniques, forcing patients to either go it alone or to be treated with equipment or procedures that are fast becoming outdated. They limit the choice of physicians or hospitals to a select few who are chosen not based on credentials but on willingness to accept a strict fee schedule for all the procedures they may perform. They require the patient to read and understand handbook and references the size of dictionaries in order to utilize their benefits and are quick to point out any error the participant makes in an effort to limit their access to the care they need. I could go on, I used to work for a Health Insurance Company and I hated it, I felt sick to my stomach over some of the things I saw happen to the participants who were in our care, and I think the company I worked for was better than many out there in that regard... it's sad. They don't. Your premise is faulty.