Posted on 04/02/2006 10:07:11 PM PDT by neverdem
IN the past five years, private health insurance premiums have risen 73 percent. Some businesses have responded by dropping healthcare coverage, leaving employees uninsured. Other employers pass the costs on to workers, both by raising co-payments and premiums and by denying workers the wage increases they need to afford these higher prices.
What is driving this unsustainable run-up in health insurance costs, and how can we make things better?
Health care is expensive because the vast majority of Americans consume it as if it were free. Health insurance policies with low deductibles insulate people from the cost of the medical care they use — so much so that they often do not even ask for prices. And people don't recognize the high premium costs of this low-deductible insurance because premiums are paid by employers. Finally, the tax code subsidizes these expensive, employer-purchased insurance policies.
To control health care costs, we must give consumers an incentive to spend money wisely. We can do this by encouraging the purchase of high-deductible policies and providing the same tax benefits for out-of-pocket health spending that employer-provided insurance enjoys. The overall cost to the consumer will be no greater than it is now and, in most cases, significantly lower. And no consumer is better than the American consumer at driving prices down and quality up.
The president has proposed a package of reforms that will spur such changes by building on the success of consumer-directed Health Savings Accounts and the insurance policies that go with them. Health Savings Accounts allow people to save money tax-free to pay their out-of-pocket health costs, as long as they have high-deductible health policies to cover catastrophic expenses. Enrollment in these accounts has grown rapidly since their introduction in 2003, with more than three million people now contributing to them.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Mine goes up about 20% each year. It's not sustainable.
Of course, in the year that HIPAA was implemented, health care costs rose some 10%.
HIPAA, as many of you know, was that awful legislation passed during the Clinton years that sought to mandate insurance portability, protect health privacy, and insure that insurance companies used a single computerized billing system.
The last I heard, HHS was hiring more HIPAA inspectors than the IRS has tax inspectors. This is ironic, because HHS is still finalizing what they mean by the word "private".
Worse yet, our privacy is not one shread better than it was before, when civil lawsuits punished careless or insensitive doctors and administrators. Our health insurance isn't any more portable.
Tragically, the GOP doesn't want to touch this one. It seems that they don't see any votes in reversing the largest power grab in recent history on the part of the Feds.
Get the government OUT OF HEALTHCARE and watch the costs go down.
Doctors say NHS must charge for care
Stem cells from brains help rats walk, study says
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Bump for later.
BTTT!
When I purchase my auto insurance, I purchase a policy with the lowest deductable possible. It costs more, but not that much more. I don't want any unexpected expenses poping up due to a traffic accident, at a time when I might have other unplanned financial burdens.
This is the same way I see health insurance. When I sign on to a policy, I want one with a low deductable. I have to pay more for it, but then it's worth it to me.
I have a set list of bills each month. I plan for those bills. I do the best I can to insulate myself from large unplanned bills. If I have an accident, a health emergency and a few other problems pop up at the same time, it leaves me exposed.
I don't want a $500 auto deductable to pop up when I have a $1k, $5 or $10K health deduction pop up.
I see this as another attempt by business to toss off another large burden on employees. Look folks, I don't know many people who can come up with large deductables on the spur of the moment. If the health insurance game changes across the board, we're going to have many people out there who will have insurance they can't afford to use.
I don't want employees to abuse the system, but then I don't want employers abusing the system either.
Here we have another instance where nobody can figure out why certain costs are going up dramatically, even though it's well known that a very large body of people are getting health services for free.
Grazing affects the costs in super-markets. When folks eat food inside the store and don't pay, what happens to costs for everyone else. Why can't folks see that this same thing happens in hospitals?
The cost of healthcare is going up for two main reasons. Today we have some amazing medications that actually keep folks out of the hospital, alive and living longer. We also have some great advances in options for surgery and recovery that we didn't used to have. Then there's the problem of a large body of people who don't pay.
If we don't want these things, then we can opt out of them. I don't know many people who want to give up advanced medications. I don't know too many people who want to give up the option to have surgery. I know a hell of a lot of people who don't seem to give a damn that a certain massive body of people are sucking healthcare dry, not paying one dime for the care they get.
One of MANY examples: why do I need to see a doctor to get a refill on a perscription.. then go and see a pharmacist to 'fill it'. (when its prepackaged)..
Both getting a fat cut along the way.. along with their buddies the insurance companies.
And for routine health issues why do I need to see a 'doctorate of medicine'. Can you imagine every time you needed repairs on your car by law only a doctorate of mechanical engineering could perform the work? Only the rich could afford cars...
I do just the opposite.
I have $1000 deductible on all my cars.
In three or four years you will have saved the difference of the higher deductible. So if you have a claim at the end of that time period you break even. Every year you go after that without making a claim there are significant dollars saved. Typically a couple hundred dollars a year per car. Not chump change.
This is a dumb argument. Whom do you wish to see. If you want to be totally responsible for your own health care then I would not mind passing a law stating an individual can practice medicine on their own person. I see nothing wrong if you want to diagnose yourself and decide what medicine you want as long as you do not complain and try to sue yourself when you screw up. But don't be surprised if a physician will refuse to take care of any of your mistakes. Think of it like a Car dealer or manufacturer will not cover your mess ups under their warrenty. But I do not see a reason to not let you do this if you really want to. But you will be totally responsible.
When I first started doing this, the additional fee was VERY minimal. I was amazed what less than $25 more per six month policy would reducy my deductable by. I haven't looked at the figures in recent years because I've been re-upping my policy with the same coverages on two cars.
Thanks for the comments. If I were to look at it today, I might change my mind. I doubt it.
I don't know if you get insurance through your employer or if you pay for it. But answer me this question if you know. What do you think it cost for insurance from Blue Cross (including dental) for a family of four?
I'm the Blue Cross administrator for my company (in Idaho). I have found that most people have no idea...
Dream on.
When God invented lawyers and the libs latched on to it, personal responsibility went out the door. It changed to CYA.
$7k a year?
It's my uninformed guess that the bill would be around $1,000 to $1,250 per month if paid for out of pocket. If paid for through a business plan, it would probably cost the insured around $200-$250 per month, and the employer another $200-$250. I don't know what the total bill would be under a business group plan, so these are my estimates.
I realize this places a burden on the business. I also realize it has become part of the employment package to privide such coverages. General wages don't go up much these days. In lieu of that employees get some increased pay through rising insurance costs. Emplyees share a part of this burden in most instances, and take home wages actually shrink each year.
Without my swapping out jobs several times, my real wages would have declined significantly since 1990. In the 1990s staff wages were frozen for seven years at the medical center where I was employed. During that time our insurance costs went up significantly.
Sorry, I missed your dental rider. I would tag that at about another $75 to $100 per month out of pocket for the employee.
Exactly or I might to choose to see a physician's assistant about a rash, instead of a doctorate of medicine. With freedom also comes responsbility. In our society we often take away responsiblity and because of that we take away freedom.
Thanks for the comments. In the last ten years I've had one claim. Some guy changed lanes into my vehicle. Did next to nothing to my car, but his car was tweaked and sailed right into parked vehicles. He didn't bother to look. I'm thinking next time he might.
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