Posted on 12/07/2007 1:21:05 PM PST by Huntress
The end of employment-based health insurance isn’t in sight yet, but a study released this morning raises the possibility of a “tipping point” that will cause employers to consider alternatives.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute said that “if one larger employer actually did drop its health benefits, others might follow for competitive reasons.”
The report, published this morning on www.ebri.org, said work-based health insurance benefits, which are held by the majority of Americans who have health insurance, are still a competitive reason to attract employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
For some this works:
http://www.samaritanministries.org/
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CHCN is not practicing the business of insurance and is therefore not regulated by any state Department of Insurance. For full disclosure statements, click here.
The above is the key to paying for actual legitimate medical expenses.
Costs my family less than $300 a month and the out-of-pocket is only $300 (not $2500 or $5000) You have to practice Christian faith thou. Not easy for everyone.
Freep mail me for more info.
Place I'm at now has a 100% match. But, we need to wait 3 years to get it. Big Carrot, big stick.
Employer based health care! Who needs that crap? I'm gonna get me some of that good SCHIP stuff the Frost Family got. I heard the dad even got himself a Portable Festool circular plunge-cut saw and them things don't come cheap. You folks paying for healthcare are suckers. That's what Nancy Pelosi told me anyways...
Certainly they’re not gonna be covered if a fella has to pay for stupid health insurance that’s just redundant with what the democratic party promises for FREE
If big companies drop their health insurance benefits, and there is no compensating factor (i.e. a big jump in salary to cover part of a health plan elsewhere), the velvet handcuffs come off. Employee loyalty will suffer and there will be a higher level of attrition for all employees. The corporate bottom line will improve over the short term. For the long term, the story may be different.
In Florida United Health Care has one where you set a high deductible for the plan. Then they set the HSA account for the value of that deductible. Lowers the plan cost, makes the employee aware of the costs, and yet doesn’t take a huge amount out of their pocket. A lotta variables and insurance is a racket IMHO.
I think all employers should push back against insurance companies and health care providers. We get far less today for our money because everyone is always talking insurance and not about the rising cost. I think everyone should bitch and moan.
Medical care is a product that behaves like a bureaucracy. You get charged whether they fix the car or not. They charge you extraordinary amounts to cover the costs of others. They really need truth in billing. I’d personally like to see all group insurance abolished and Doctors and Hospitals instead offer service plans but I doubt such a thing will happen. All the politicians want to talk about is increasing insurance not helping health care customers have a recourse to the rising health costs.
We need to introduce more competition and provide more consumer rights rather than lawsuits where Health Care is concerned. We also need to import more doctors from countries like India and instead of spending money on stupid ideas like “Universal Health Care” we need to spend the money providing more loan free opportunities for those going to medical school with stipulations that they follow certain service guidelines for so many years after receiving their government funded education.
We also need more small clinics like those popping up in Department stores nationwide. We need more capitalism in Medicine. There are drugs that should be available for pennies that have prices after more than 10 years almost as high as they were when they were first developed. We need more drugs moved to “behind the counter over the counter”.
The cost reduction would far out weigh any of the risk from individuals who might misuse the drugs. Instead now pharmaceutical companies are advertising drugs to raise demand even higher and target people who don’t even know they are sick.
Health care is an evil hybrid that needs to have the leeches of government and insurance plucked off and the needs of the patients balanced with the needs of the doctors who they rely on. I the past 70 years we have went from a service oriented industry where it was common for the doctor to offer in house visits to a very impersonal system for separating patients and doctors from their hard earned money.
Your post,IMHO, is the most astute one on this thread.
I guess you never heard of Mutual Benefit Life, eh?
Most big insurance companies have been around for a long time because their ability to remain solvent for decades -- if not centuries -- is part of their appeal. They are also heavily regulated because the financial collapse of an insurance company would be far more devastating to the U.S. economy than the collapse of a company in any other industry.
In any case, there's no reason to even include insurance companies in this discussion. "Health insurance" isn't really insurance at all . . . it's basically just a payment plan for medical services.
In a rational world, this happening might be our cue to get governments out of health care entirely and throw the entire field open to the free market: nurse-practitioners taking the place of "gateway" GP's, open shopping for medications on the world market, hotel managers moving into the hospital field, no more board "permission" required to install MRIs and other test equipment.
But no. Doctors, hospitals and pharma companies will accept a socialist single-payer health management scheme rather than open up to a free market. When this happens, they will richly deserve it.
Yeah, business is booming until it comes time to talk about health insurance for workers. Then corporations start the on the edge of bankruptcy routine. The goal? To get Hillary and the rest of the gang to pass universal health care so the corporation won’t have to pay it anymore. Corporate interests are moving us towards socialism more quickly than government alone could ever hope to.
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I agree 100%. But I don’t expect much support here for that viewpoint.
bttt
Look, it’s not like the employer part is a free gift. It’s part of their compensation. Why don’t employers like to let employees know what part of their compensation is the “employer-paid” portion? I think it must be because the employers are getting a better deal than they want us to know.
Is the $20 copay the reason people are determined to “use the hell” out of their health benes? Or is it because they’re paying through the nose for the employee portion of the premium?
A higher deductible is probably a good idea, if it means a lower premium. Part of the problem is all the “ask your doctor about” advertising. Cheez, it’s like the kiddie commercials where they exhort the children to nag their parents for some kind of sugar coated cereal.
Thank you! I am always suspicious of the source of “chicken little” stories. Our local newspaper has a new one every Sunday on the front of the editorial page. There are always plenty of crises looking for a government program.
The availability of health insurance has never been a factor in my taking of a job.
If they have it and it’s reasonably priced, that’s great.
If they have it and it’s expensive, I opt out.
If they don’t offer it at all, oh well, I do without.
IMO it’s overrated and should never be used as a reason to turn down employment.
I haven’t heard anybody mention the AMA lately. They’re still the enemy of the patient too.
That's what I thought until I went on the high deductible plan with an HSA.
I get the bills and see that the insurance plan takes the Dr's charges of about $100 and writes off about $40, leaving me with a $60 bill I have to pay.
If I went without being in the insurance plan, I'd have to pay the full amount of $100.
My point is, if you do not have an insurance plan, you get raped. The cost, with or without insurance should be the same.
I think that kind of attitude is totally out of line. People who work ARE responsible. When are employers going to realize that? If they are not contributing something to society they would be standing in the welfare line or Dem's line waiting waiting to vote for the handout. Would you rather your taxes be raised to pay for a national health care plan? I am sick of employer greed. They can skim profits and most do.
“Why don’t employers like to let employees know what part of their compensation is the “employer-paid” portion? I think it must be because the employers are getting a better deal than they want us to know.”
Most employers do tell their employees. And there isn’t anything about a good deal involved.
“Is the $20 copay the reason people are determined to “use the hell” out of their health benes? Or is it because they’re paying through the nose for the employee portion of the premium?”
Many people will go to the doctor for the slightest sniffle because its only $20 and they pay a lot. If people pay more of their fees out of their pocket then the overall rate is lower.
Personally I’d pay cash for routine stuff if I could get the insurance company rates.
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