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This is really no different from health insrance companies just automatically denying first attempts at prior authorization: because it increases profits. Increasing waiting times means a certain percentage of peopel will give up or get disconnected and not bother re-trying. That's fewer calls your representatives will have to take so you need fewer of tehm, saving money.

Everywhere you look, from egg prices to electricity prices to broadband prices to medicare care costs, you see price gouging. Some event might be used to justify those prices increases. Profits always need to increase.

Some people will look at all this and say it's fine. These people are modern serfs who think their billionaire lord and masters deserve to be their lord and masters.

Some will see this as a few bad apples and it's a lack of government regulation or a lack of competition, which is the same thing because companies will seek to increase profits by decreasing competition by buying up or merging with competitors.

Eventually you realize all of this is by design. It's a fundamental and systemic problem. It's the internal contridctions in capitalism.



Not only insurance companies, but many others.

Airlines do it too. One dark pattern I experienced during Covid was that the airline call system was automatically set to hang up after 30 minutes. If you were lucky you'd get to speak to a representative at around minute 25, but never get your ticket rebooked.




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