As explained on the other reply in this thread, because insurers pay to doctors a standardized amount based on the type of visit/exam/procedure. So doctors don’t accept insurance whenever they can make more money by charging the consumer directly.
The way it works in Brazil – maybe in other similar countries as well – is that insurance only covers specific doctors which have partnerships with the insurer. A common question when you're talking about a doctor or call his office is "which insurance plans does she accept?". Usually it's 2 or 3 plans, and thus you end up maintaining in your life a network of doctors that work with your specific insurance – so that whenever you have a problem you know where you can get treatment without spending extra.
This creates a relationship where doctors get paid much less than they would normally charge (e.g. $20 for an insurance-paid appointment vs. $100 for a customer-paid appointment). But this way they end up receiving a steady number of clients from the insurer. And in most cases doctors have to accept this deal because they don't have enough demand on their own.
Naturally, that's not the case for top neurosurgeons. They have way too much demand and can make only a few surgeries per week. So virtually none of the top ones agree to being "accredited". They make an order of magnitude more money by charging the customer directly.
If you decide to use a "non-accredited" doctor you have to pay out of your own pocket. Typical insurers won't reimburse you in this case, and even the high end ones will give you back only up to 10 or 15%. They do cover for hospital expenses (room, nurses, meals, etc.), but these are a small fraction of the cost of brain surgery.
There are some different insurance plans that will reimburse your customer-paid appointments/procedures, but – since the cost for these visits is way higher – these are plans that only multi-millionaires can afford.
Having gone through all of this recently with my little brother, I can definitely relate. Her account of the pre and post surgery are spot on, as well as the worries around this operation (will he survive? will his personality change? will the operation be a success? what will be the consequences?).
And I'm glad she had insurance, even more so considering she lives in the US. In our case he had it too, but where we live the top neurosurgeons unfortunately don't accept it – you need to pay the operation yourself. It can be incredibly expensive as she mentioned.
It's great to hear she's doing fine. I don't recall ever being so happy about the health situation of someone I didn't know 10 minutes before. What a beautiful video.
We applied and got in without any connections whatsoever to YC.
We hadn't ever been to Silicon Valley or to the United States, and no company from our country (Brazil) or even our continent had ever joined YC before us.
Glio, Inc. (glio.com, YC S13) | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Onsite, Full Time | R$54k-R$96k, 0.1-0.5% equity
At Glio.com we're building the future of e-commerce in Latin America. We're a platform that connects buyers & sellers, using software to eliminate inefficiencies and provide the best shopping experience in LatAm at affordable prices.
We're looking for a front end engineer for onsite work in Rio de Janeiro. Experience in Javascript is a must. Ruby on Rails experience is a big plus, but not required.
Glio is the 1st Latin American company to be backed by YCombinator. We're based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our investors include, among others, Naval Ravikant, Ace & Co and FundersClub.
You will be hire #10 and join a hard-working, smart, ambitious team that aims at becoming the largest retailer in Latin America.
If this mission excites you please drop me a line at [email protected]. And feel free to send me any questions you might have.
Glio, Inc. (glio.com, YC S13) | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Onsite, Full Time | R$54k-R$120k, 0.5-3.0% equity
At Glio.com we're building the future of e-commerce in Latin America. We're a platform that connects buyers & sellers, using software to eliminate inefficiencies and provide the best shopping experience in LatAm at affordable prices.
We're hiring back-end and front-end software developers. Experience in Ruby on Rails & Javascript is a big plus, but not required.
Glio is the 1st Latin American company to be backed by YCombinator. We're based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our investors include, among others, Naval Ravikant, Ace & Co and FundersClub.
You will be hire #9 and join a hard-working, smart, ambitious team that aims at becoming the largest retailer in Latin America.
If this mission excites you please drop me a line at [email protected]. And feel free to send me any questions you might have.
Hard to say that cloud storage and travel accommodations are not real problems. The solutions created with YC's help have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
And you're not considering the recent increased YC focus on startups from developing countries. Just from top of mind you have companies selling cheaper solar energy in Mexico, improving online payments in India, lowering interest rates in Africa, treating low-income patients in Central America, etc.
There are dozens of YC companies just getting started that will positively impact the lives of billions of people in the next 10+ years.
Glio, Inc. (glio.com, YC S13) | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Onsite, Full Time | R$54k-R$120k, 0.5-3.0% equity
At Glio.com we're building the future of e-commerce in Latin America. We're a platform that connects buyers & sellers, using software to eliminate inefficiencies and provide the best shopping experience in LatAm at affordable prices.
We're hiring back-end and front-end software developers. Experience in Ruby on Rails & Javascript is a big plus, but not required.
Glio is the 1st Latin American company to be backed by YCombinator. We're based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our investors include, among others, Naval Ravikant, Ace & Co and FundersClub.
You will be hire #9 and join a hard-working, smart, ambitious team that aims at becoming the largest retailer in Latin America.
If this mission excites you please drop me a line at [email protected]. And feel free to send me any questions you might have.
Glio (YC S13) | https://glio.com | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Full Time | Onsite
Want to build the future of Latin American e-commerce? Join us at Glio.com.
We're looking for software engineers experienced in Ruby on Rails and Javascript.
Our stack: Rails 4, Spree (experience not required, but a big plus), RSpec, jQuery, Postgres, AWS, Jasmine & CircleCI.
Our main practices include:
* Continuous Integration, deploys all day long
* Hardcore A/B testing & data-driven decisions
* Shipping culture (you will deliver to production on your first day)
* Everybody owns the code – code is peer reviewed
* Pair programming
* Tests coverage
* Weekly sprints
Glio is the 1st Latin American company to be backed by YCombinator. We're based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our investors include, among others, Naval Ravikant, Ace & Co and FundersClub.
You will be hire #7 and join a hard-working, smart, ambitious team that aims at becoming the largest retailer in Latin America.
Remuneration involves a mix of salary and equity. If you're interested please email [email protected].