NYT : Insurance premiums could spike as much as 40 percent next year
Coronavirus May Add Billions to U.S. Health Care BillInsurance premiums could spike as much as 40 percent next year, a new analysis warns, as employers and insurers confront the projected tens of billions of dollars in additional costs of treating coronavirus patients.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/health/coronavirus-insurance-premium-increases.html
With so much still uncertain about how widespread hospitalizations for coronavirus patients will be around the United States, a new analysis says premiums could increase as much as 40 percent next year if the pandemic results in millions of Americans needing hospital stays.
“Health plans went into 2020 with no hint of coronavirus on the horizon,” said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California, the state insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, which conducted the analysis. To protect businesses and individuals from sharply higher rates, he supports a temporary federal program that would cover some of these costs. “No insurer, no state, planned and put money away for something of this significance,” Mr. Lee said.
So far, some 94,000 people have become infected in the United States, according to official counts, and at least 1,400 have died. In New York state alone, nearly 1,600 patients were in intensive-care units as of Friday morning and the numbers have been rising all week. Mr. Lee’s organization estimated the total cost to the commercial insurance market, which represents the coverage currently offered to 170 million workers and individuals through private health plans. The analysis does not include costs for people enrolled in government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Depending on how many people need care, insurers, employers and individuals could face anywhere from $34 billion to $251 billion in additional expenses from the testing and treatment of Covid-19. according to the analysis. At the high end, the virus would add 20 percent or more to current costs of roughly $1.2 trillion a year. “There’s a lot we don’t know,” Mr. Lee said. “These are ranges.” While the bill before Congress would provide hospitals some financial relief, it may not result in any change to how much hospitals charge private insurers and employers for care, he said.
snip
updated numbers on the US
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
= new reply since forum marked as read
doesn't fucking work. Ask everyone who is laid off and has lost their HEALTH INSURANCE from their employer.
What up George? 
continue to make billionaires richer through insurance that works very hard on one thing: finding ways to avoid paying for anything. 
There are a lot of people that work for corporations and Bernie's constant attacks on corporations was seen as a negative.
I'm not in favor of excessive greed that makes people billionaires, but I sure the hell don't want government involved with my health care anymore than it has to be. If I'm dissatisfied with my health insurance I at least have the choice of moving to a different company. If I'm dissatisfied with my health insurance coverage from the government, then I'm screwed because I have no other options.
Have a nice day!
but I also detest the fact that we pay huge amounts annually into (supposedly "good"
insurance that ends up costing us a great deal more than it ever pays.
Between out of pocket maximums, copays, and premiums plus the stuff they decide they don't want to cover...I'd rather pay taxes to ensure that EVERYONE can see a doctor if they want to. I know a whole lot of people who can't go to the doctor because they aren't fortunate enough to be able to pay those out of pockets and co pays.
All of the companies are about the same: make the employer (if there is one) pay, make the person/family pay...rake in the cash and make sure to pay the executives and MBAs for ensuring that the system doesn't actually help anyone.
Yes, you may have to pay premiums, co-pays, and deductibles and it appears the fact that you also have to pay them has lead you not to visit the doctor on frivolous occasions. I consider that to be a very good thing that many people benefit from. It means that we keep the staffing levels at hospitals at reasonable ratios instead of being over-staffed--I know that for a fact because my brother is a respiratory therapist who used to sleep on the job when he worked at a hospital.
Do we really want to double or triple the number of hospital workers when they aren't actually doing any work or caring for patients? Do we spend more money educating physicians that aren't actually needed? That seems like a tremendous waste of resources that offers little to no benefit to society. I've personally worked in positions where I was no longer needed and there is nothing more psychologically depressing than to go to a job where the only thing to do was busy work or writing procedure manuals.
Griping about an insurance company making a profit seems very petty in my opinion--we don't condemn other businesses that make profits at rates that far exceed the profit levels of health insurance companies. All of the current policyholders benefit (not the "very few" whether or not they meet their annual deductibles because the insurance companies verify the credentials of the providers and adjust their networks to ensure quality care--that is something not likely to occur in a government run system where the incentive is to find the lowest cost provider (which already occurs in practices that no longer accept Medicare and Medicaid patients because of the low reimbursement rates). The current insurance system also allows for adjustments much more rapidly to changing conditions versus a system where every health care worker is a government employee who are essentially given jobs for life with the possibility that they may never be needed. What a drain on society! I think that pain would extend much farther than the pain because some people file bankruptcies.
I've been on private insurance (gold-level plans) and government health care plans (barely enough to sustain my life, but I'm five years overdue for a colonoscopy). The difference in quality of care was evident and I would certainly enjoy having the private insurance again so you will definitely not find me complaining about private health insurance even if it isn't perfect.
