But isn't the California law requiring the insurance company to act as a sin-eater here? They seem to be the only people you were frustrated with, even though they are not the ones who charged you $1000.

They had the duty to pay and they try to trick every one of their customers into not realizing that, so that's why I'm only mad at them.

I acknowledge that the CA law is forcing them to, in the mechanism the article covers, causing them to subsidize other people's care, and this is happening in many areas of healthcare too.

Though those costs are surely accounted for when they set their premiums, which for 2025 amounted to just over $32,000 for my family.

> isn't the California law requiring the insurance company to act as a sin-eater here?

American healthcare providers have done a pretty good job at transferring PR liability to insurers. Cost inflation, in America, is mostly a problem at the provider level.