New to the US, confused about health insurance calls. Is there a better way?

Hey r/HealthInsurance,

I recently moved to the US from Europe for work, and I’m having a hard time understanding how health insurance works here. It’s so different from what I’m used to.

Last week, I had to call my insurance company about coverage for a check-up. I was on hold for ages, got transferred a couple times, and honestly, I’m still not sure I understand what they told me. It got me thinking – why are we still doing this over the phone in 2024?

I’m a software engineer, so I can’t help but wonder why there isn’t a better tech solution for this. We have LLMs doing all sorts of complex tasks now, but we can’t simplify insurance calls?

I’m curious about a few things:

Is there a reason why so much insurance stuff has to be done over the phone? Are there no good apps or websites that can handle this?

Why is it so hard to get a clear answer on how much a doctor’s visit will cost? In most other situations, you know the price before you buy something.

Are there legal reasons that make all of this so complicated? Are there rules that prevent making the system simpler?

I’m really trying to understand why these issues haven’t been solved yet. It seems like there’s room for improvement, but maybe I’m missing something.

If anyone has insights into why the US health insurance system works this way, or ideas on how it could be improved, I’d appreciate hearing them. Thanks for helping out someone new to all this!