Rising Health Premiums
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-29/rising-health-premiums
What's behind the jump in health insurance premiums and how it's affecting employers and workers.
Guests
Ron Pollack
executive director of Families USA, a national non-profit organization for health care consumers.
Julie Rovner
health policy correspondent for NPR, author of "Health Care Policy and Politics A-Z," and contributing editor for National Journal Daily.
Joseph Antos
Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.
Larry Leavitt
senior vice president, Kaiser Family Foundation.
Comments
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Just the tip of the iceberg for Obama care, I would bet dollars to donuts this is happening must faster than "Mr. Affordable Care" would have guessed and it will only add more holes to his already sinking ship come election time.
It's obvious the monstrosity know as the "Affordable Care Act" never had anything to do with making health care "affordable", it was designed to force private insurance companies out and put the government in with a single payer system. The only problem is, Obama thought he would be comfortably in to his second term destroying the country before we found this out.
On a related note, this just out from the Wall Street Journal (that liberal lying piece of sheet socialist rag!) So besides having to watch the big insurance industries who would really rather we'd all just croak....watch your pensions closely friends, the greedy are out looking for more stuff to relieve you of:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190353280457656686204167479...
Capitalism: simply a predatory stage of human evolution.
Lets bow our heads for a moment of silence for all fallen brothers Cicero and Meangreen. These courageous men were brought down before their time. The treacherous knives of left wing fanatics pierced their golden hearts by stabbing them in the back while they extolled their righteous message of freedom. We will miss them! Their bodies now empty of the great spirit that lifted our thoughts to higher heights will now return from where they came. From their ashes will rise a new force to be reckoned with, reincarnated as super beings we can only expect great enlightenment as to the true nature of the forces of evil that presently control our government.
I would rather entrust control of health care to the government than to the corporation and would rather invest in social security (which should be broadened) than to invest in some plan headed by any number of Bernie Madoff's and Ken Lay's. Government as we have it is accountable to its laws and citizens, the corporation abides only to profit (read Age of Greed by Jeffrey Maddrick and for some fun watch the movie Sicko by Michael Moore).
Right now the corporation is encroaching upon us through pressure from it's spawn the Tea Party and its big brother the Republican Party that want total wild-west corporatism to replace government in order to pad their already padded pockets. Do you really want corporate control of the post office, water, schools, military, air quality, retirement? Pretty much that's what you had in the 1930's fascist Italy under Mussolini and that's where we have been heading for nearly 30 years capped off with George W Bush administration and far right wing congress.
The Tea Party was created by a PR firm hired by the Insurance industry to shout down any possibiltiy of National Health Care (read Deadly Spin by ex-Cigna Head of PR Wendell Potter). It's a corporate schill, not a grassroots group--it's astroturf. It was created to protect the profits of the insurance industry which was scared it was being put to pasture. Insurance reform is not health care, and is a very watered down version of what Obama originally proposed, and certainly is no national care as Obama and the Clintons before him tried to effect.
.... and right now, we are suffering from a fantastically widening gap in wealth in our country where the richest 2% have nearly 50% of everything and earners in the lower 80% have little more than 10% of the country's wealth. In this way, we are in the same perverse state as we were on the eve of the Great Depression. We need to tax the rich and pull out of the middle east, increase goverment to create jobs, and to re-form the net for our kids and elderly. Shame on this gold-watch club masquerading as a political party.
Ah, a day without Monte's inane comments (posted before the story he's "commenting" on even appears) is like a day of sunshine after a good night's rain has cleared the air. For example, yesterday's story about The Jungle! Wonder how he managed to miss that one?
Meanwhile, to return to reality (a place Monte and his "idols" are unfamiliar with), my insurance premiums have been skyrocketing for the past 10 years. Care to explain how that fits in with your "it's all Obama's fault" theory, Monte old chum?
In 2011 health care premium cost has risen 9%, in 2010 it was 3%. It is expected it will rise an additional 8.5% in 2012. This is in part caused by the burden placed on insurance companies to cover "children" up to the age of 26 in the Obama legislation, this mandate alone has added millions of people on to existing policies. There are more mandates besides this but realize these forced premium increases are by design. Employers will find it cheaper in the not so distant future to want to opt out and just pay the penalty for not providing private insurance. If anyone who actually pays for insurance or health care through the government thinks they are going to pay less and get more, think again. Not only will you pay more for yourselves you will pay for the permanent mentally crippled living off the welfare state who do not have the slightest concern for cost control. Oh, and by the way there will be cost control and it will come in the form of "death panels". Do you really think in time that the massive cost of end of life care will not be addressed?
" the permanent mentally crippled living off the welfare state who do not have the slightest concern for cost control"
Such nice terminlogy.
The "are there no prisons, are there no workhouses, and if they died then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." fits right in with your morally bankrupt rhetoric.
Again, my comment from a couple of weeks past stands....the Republicans simply want all the poor to go away and die someplace. They can't afford them.
Only know of three types of Americans:
1. Have medical 'insurance' BUT either cannot afford time off from work to use IT, are forbidden to use IT, OR were old with pension(children a system where workers COULD retire after lifelong employment- was called social contract) described healthcare benefits where the profit driven 'healthcare' system DID not take proper medical care(cause NO harm, ease suffering, etc) BUT did relieve US of any pesky savings before FINALLY killing US parents(death panels alive and 'well' US- shhhh- before OPUS Obama elected).
2. Without any type coverage- MORE worried about food and shelter(unemployed(BOTH healthy and none, with 'non' growing everyday), medically active duty disabled(unable to work BUT compensation NOT covering bills), and 'undocumented' injured veterans prior to 1991(two witnesses of injury event, about something(s) ORDERED never to talk about, gotta LOVE IT) BUT after 1975(Vietnam Veterans).
3. Active duty. Retired active duty.
ONLY one group HAPPY with healthcare. Sorry IT is socialist style 'one payer' ALL enrolled commie-like US military health care system.
Country STILL needs healthcare reform... and Congress 'hears' that(with help from LOBBIES) to DENY us long term societal benefits from universal healthcare(and education) BUT healthy educated individuals would NEVER stand for status quo...
Costs?
So... why are self insured big corps... also raising prices by 7% The HCA has no direct effect on these guys through insurance reform. They are a good control for you to test your foul rhetoric.
Studies suggest that 2% of the increase is caused by the HCA law. The rest of the increase... your mileage will vary.
Personally, just as Insurance companies limited their price increases when the HCA act was being debated... only to recoup in the out years... Providers are now trying to lock in new prices before the marketplace changes.
For you free market types.... Consider the market alternatives a consumer will face... Replace high priced Western medicine with Eastern Medicine. No effective heart care for you!
The medical free market is a twisted fantasy.
Why does no one see that health care as it is practiced today is a bubble? The insurance and health care complex is feeding off of the residual savings and cash available to the baby boomers! When this cash is gone, health care will fail. Why does no one see this? Health care is the latest bubble. When you look at the shift in jobs from unionized benefit paying ones to McJobs on the save for yourself liberterian benefits plan, health care as it is practiced today is unsustainable.
RUMORED fourth group... money to cover visits, non-computer modeled check list management NOT driven by 'savings'...
also heard of 400 Americans(?) owning assets equal to assets of 150 million. That is HALF US population has the same bling as 400 people...
LOL RFLMAO US should know better then to listen rumours- rumors(seperated by a common language?)...
Q: What do you call being unemployable in a right to work state?
A: (still waiting for answer typeable in a polite forum with ladies hovering)
Good Morning, I own a small business that is now 28 years old. I have always provided health insurance for my employees and about 12 years ago to combat the ever rising prices of health insurance I join an employee leasing company to hold down those cost. By doing this instead of having a small group of 10 we were now part of a group of 500,000. Three days ago I received notice that our current coverage would go up 85%, as it turns out Humana has decided to no longer consider us a member of the large group and all on the leasing companies clients would now have to be considered individually. The Affordable Care Act as I understand it will require that Insurance Companies will have to use 85% of their revenue for Health Care for large groups and 80% for small groups. That explains the reclassification, but it does not explain the 85%. I would guess that it has more to do with short term increased profits while they still can.
I experienced a radical increase in my premiums with a corresponding radical increase in out of pocket and deductible expenses.
This is what my family is faced with:
Premium: $700/month ( $8400/yr; this is about 13% of my income !!!)
Deductible (per person): $2500
Pharmacy: 50% coverage
Major Medical : 70%
The out of pocket expenses DO NOT apply to the deductible. In other words, the co-pay for pharmacy, major medical, office visits are not applied to the $2500 per person deductible. I calculated that my family receives no benefit from this insurance until we spend, out of pocket, over $12,000.
Many people do not understand the fine print of their policies or how to calculate the true cost.
This is not insurance. This is thievery.
By the way, I am a nurse.
Ideally, we would do away with for-profit health insurers altogether (except for those providers/users who wish to "opt out" of a government system), but I think they're intractably wound into our system - at least for now. As an alternative, I'd like to see health insurance relegated to a role akin to that of the home or auto versions; for the "big ticket" issues like accidents and diseases that involve hospitaization/rehab/home health care/etc. Think about it - the other types of insurance don't cover painting your house, new gutters, changing the oil, tires, and so on. If health insurance only covered the exceptional issues, it could be drastically reduced in price. Primary and secondary levels of care being delivered in a non-profit model (national health or single-payer) would have a major impact on reducing overhead costs.
I've yet to hear any proposal or discussion of such a "hybrid" system in any forum on this topic.
Trent, your father Thomas, would point out that just because LOTSA people are knowingly buying an education- er-loans to get medically certified...
as only 'field' hiring... especially for fields for olde folkes with coverage... anyone with cash or credit signing up
where could the cash incentives be and IF most doing/ about to do IT/ HOW could IT resemble a 'bubble'(and the loans remain)?
Toadys- er- todays path sustainable. Just try not to notice the dying people, the desperate people, or rioting people, or overworked security forces, on way to society fund raiser.
Semi-secret Soylent Green production facilities have potential to prevent this- urge your neighbors to 'get' Green'.
The BIG Green Machine- not just for the military today.
Todays message brought to you by -hey between Patriot Act and recent SC decisions US do NOT have to tell so suck IT up- or just lay back, relax, and try to enjoy IT(later- after the rich have fallen asleep- US'll cut their -blanks- off AND tonight kidz US eat MEAT !!!! Hmmm- tastes like chicken).
My husband and I are self-insured. Our premium has gone up $100/month ($1200/yr) each year for the last 4 years. WE HAVE A $10,000 PER PERSON DEDUCTIBLE which thankfully we haven't gotten close to.
Ironically our ins. co. is named Golden Rule.
donhill
US fail to include in computer modeling
the cost of lost life
lost opportunity
lost gains in every field
loss of civility and society
NOT to mention harder and harder to move to and secure a good neighborhood.
No lets try to stay focused narrowly on short term(Jones may step ahead- or Kim) ROI(returns)
Worked so well last decade
Hey Diane,
Could you talk about having fixed cost for medical services nationally. The cost could be based on the region, inflation, and other applicable considerations. Wouldn't that be the most effective way to control cost?
Just another instance of our dysfunctional health care "system". Much as reform was needed, the Affordable Health Care Act didn't deliver because it was so loaded with compromises.
In the long run, it would probably for the good if the Supreme Court Act were were to strike down the Act. That would open the way for a clear cut choice by this nation: either go back to the way things were, or do the sensible thing and enact a simple Medicare-for-All bill that would probably need to be no more than ten or twenty pages long. It would free American from having to depend on their employers for health insurance, and it would free employers to concentrate on providing goods and services. No longer would insurance companies be in the happy position of skimming off 20-30% of premiums before spending a penny on health care.
When are all the numpties in this country going to realize that we will have better outcomes and less expense if we have universal health care?
Mary Helen Boone
Oriental, North Carolina
Just got here a few minutes ago (and yay for podcasts later).
Has anyone mentioned the fallacy of the GOP debate question?
Put another way, how many of you got "a good job" when you were 30 that didn't have health insurance? How threading-the-needle is that?
It's seems like such a pie-in-the-sky made-for-fiction construct that the Republicans (who are absolute crap at poster children) didn't even have a name to offer of someone who did that.
TOO ironic
YOURE in group one.
Will be group two IF(anshallah- God willing) IF need to ever USE plan AND then find out you need healthy lawyer to get coverage that you cannot afford having spent your money on 'insurance'.
Bail and invest in target practice. Best insurance for staying healthy in the forthcoming upheavals. Unless Congress acts.
So try the telephone book(old method of information NOT requiring monthly payments to access) or newspaper(hey US seeing another pattern with transport and information distribution) for weapons/ weapons training.
Or enlist. US still has great healthcare like most other civilized nations(AMerica too proud to admit to ITs third world health care(best 'for profit' on planet(most planet have 'for health').
After not sleeping three days... slept a few hours... neighbor had break in... two more houses vacated... US 'turn' next month.
The solution is is to establish a Canadian or European style health system. We pay a bit of increased taxes but when we need health care we get it!
There has been no mention of the poor health of Americans, and how that is influencing the rising costs of health care.
I develop worksite wellness programs, and this I see how unhealthy the workforce population is. what is your feeling on this?
I may have missed it, but I did not hear your first guest from the Kaiser Family Foudation mention anything about the Affordable Care Act as one of the reasons for premium increases. My law firm, which has in the neighborhood of 75 employees and has always had a firm sponsored health insurance plan, saw our premiums go up by more than 1/3 at our last renewal and could not even get quotes from any insurers other than our current one. When asked why, our agent told us that one significant component of the increase and the reason for the unwillingness of others to bid for the business was that all of the health insurance companies are hedging against the uncertainty brought about by the ACA and the prospect of greater costs associated with the requirements of that legislation.
what US liked about 'contracting'
no fake coverage or retirement plans
spinners, guests(most), lobbyists(point speakers)
ALL fly high above the America MOST of US know
leaves them slightly disconnected from US
US/ they seem to prefer IT that way
US hope to have US, or UN, or doctor without borders decide to come BACK to Appalachia... BUT several hundred thousand Americans from several states(meds stayed and saw the overflow who waited DAYS in line) made for POOR sound bites AND was strongly discouraged(has NOT been repeated)
Odd little mention of IT in media... say do drug companies etc buy adverts???
Disappears with what did not happen 1976-1990 military
We are all paying for the caller, Shane's, children's health insurance because he chooses not to pay for it himself.
Good morning Diane,
What about responsibility?It seems we all eat burgers, pizza and tacos? What happened to a habit of fruit, vegetables and exercise? Should we all not take responsibility for our own health care?
thanks
Have been listening to your show concerning Obamacare and I am astounded at the propaganda that is being put out in favor of this Affordable Care Act.
It is a fact that people who have insurance use the medical field more than people who don't have insurance which is the main reason why premiums go up for the people with insurance. Also the people who have insurance do not bother to check their bills to see if they have been overcharged. Overcharging and double charging is a very well known fact of hospitals.
Obamacare mandates for everyone except for the Amish, native americans, Muslims and illegals. Oh yes lets include all the waivers Obama has given to thousands of corporations.
The Obama administration has admitted that its legislation is flawed by giving these waivers and it should be repealed and taken back to the drawing board.
I personally am on Medicare but use alternative medicine which is not covered by any insurance so I pay for my own healthcare plus I have to pay into Medicare which is a mandate.
Obama's low approval rating has a lot to do with Obamacare.