Health premiums now more than a new car!

[leftyladyfrommo]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64525.html/

This is an interesting article on the causes of insurance premium increases.

Premiums have gone up 168% since 13 years ago. Wages increased 50% and inflation is up 38%.

Health care really is getting so expensive that average, normal people can't afford it any more.

[Hoosier Daddy]

1. Oprah!!!

HELP!!!!!

[Mimosa]

2. And if you're over age 54-55, they're more than most people's mortgage payments! n/t

[avaistheone1]

3. Correct.

And that is bankrupting American families.

k&r

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. My health insurance was more than my mortgage and my car payments combined.

$618 a month with Assurant - no pre-existing conditions and I never had a claim. $1500 deductible.

I just got on with Blue Cross - $5,000 deductible - $187 a month.

Not great, but at least I'm covered in cased of an emergency.

[steve2470]

4. sadly, so true nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I wish the Wall Street protesters would move on up the street

and get the insurance companies - who could then put more pressure on health care providers to reduce costs.

Or something like that.

Health care isn't doing anyone any good if it so expensive that no one can afford it.

[jtrockville]

13. Even if you can afford insurance, you might not be able to afford care

The way health insurance companies control costs, is by denying care. I say we rid our health care system of the insurance scam.

[area51]

27. Our current system of pretty much unregulated insurance is the problem.

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year. This is not only a moral issue, but a national security issue that we're so vulnerable given that our health care delivery system is so fragmented and dysfunctional.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

We don't need the GingrichCare of mandated, unregulated, for-profit insurance that is still too expensive, only pays parts of medical bills, denies claims, bankrupts and kills people.

Republinazi '93 plan:

"Subtitle F: Universal Coverage - Requires each citizen or lawful permanent resident to be covered under a qualified health plan or equivalent health care program by January 1, 2005."

"We will never have real reform until people's health stops being treated as a financial opportunity for corporations."

"Employer-based health insurance has always been a bad idea. Your life should not depend on who you work for." -- T. McKeon

"Any proposal that sticks with our current dependence on for-profit private insurers ... will not be sustainable. And the new law will not get us to universal coverage ...." -- T.R. Reid, The Healing of America

"Despite the present hyperbole by its supporters, this latest effort will end up as just another failed reform effort littering the landscape of the last century." --John Geyman, M.D., Hijacked! The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform

[jtrockville]

32. Who is the "financial opportunity for corporations" quote attributed to?

I concur completely, area51. I think even "regulated" insurance would be a problem. Insurance is designed to be a hedge from something that isn't likely to happen. Like fire insurance for your home - how likely is it that your house will burn down? Sure it happens, but how many folks do you know who have never had a house fire? Compared to how many folks you know who need health care?

Health insurance, aside from being a scam, just isn't designed for delivery of a service we all need to use regularly.

[DJ13]

7. Wages increased 50% and inflation is up 38%

Where?

Wages are flat to down, and if inflation is only 38% over the last 10 years they're counting the wrong goods.

[Lorien]

12. Seriously; maybe for the top 1%, but everyone I know has seen their wages drop

since the late 90's. I now make 1/5 of what I made then.

[dembotoz]

8. i was offered cobra at over 1300 per month

much more than rent. While i do not live in a tin shack i do live in some of the cheapest housing in the county--sort of the slums

the cobra was more than i get in uc

so obviously no insurance for my family.

funny thing it--really crap insurance--crazy high out of pocket and deductables.
hospital meant bankruptcy with or without insurance.

you can buy a lot of car for 1300 a month.

last time i had car payments was 87.
been beaters with heaters ever since.

[Lorien]

14. My car payments for a new Prius are 1/3 of that.

and my mortgage is a fair deal less as well. I don't have insurance for the same reasons you just listed.

[NNN0LHI]

20. And the workers who built your Prius don't contribute anything to our social programs either

When I see a Prius driving down the road I wave goodbye to the SS and Medicare I was hoping to collect some day.

Don

[enough]

9. And that's every year. You only pay for the car once. (nt)

[avaistheone1]

29. Yes, indeed.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. Ha! You ain't seen nothing!

When I was working as a Union Sheet Metal worker, $11.38 per HOUR came out of my check for health care. If you work 2,000 hours a year, that is more than my house payment. Now that I have retired, they take almost $600.00 per month out of my retirement for HC. I don't know what kind of car you can buy for $600.00 per month but I'm guessing a pretty nice one. Add to that, after shoulder surgery and knee surgery this year, I am still left with about $10,000.00 in co pay that I'm not quite sure how I am going to pay.

The system is broken and so am I.

[sfpcjock]

11. You're sure you don't want a public option or Medicare for All like the rest of the world has?

LOL. These crazies on the right talk about "putting it back" to the old fashioned way it was. Insane.

For example, Blew Cross got bought out by money grubbing "Sickpoint" in 2007 under Bush. They've 1. closed my policy 2. raised me twice for 20-30% each time since then. Inflation has been about 5%, so they are stocking up for controls under the Affordable Care Act, I suppose. It's just insanity.

[riderinthestorm]

15. More than $20k per year for this family of four. We "buy" the equivalent of a new car every year.

My husband's policy alone is more than $15k per year (54 yrs old and with a serious PEC). I only have catastrophic coverage (I'm in my early 50s) but I don't have any health problems so my policy cost is very low. I also pay for my 23 year old (fully covered) and my youngest child is on SCHIP.

I deeply, deeply resent paying this much for insurance without really actually BUYING a new damn car (it's been many years since we've bought a new anything....)

[izquierdista]

16. Insurance is for losers

Insurance is just a game of averages. If you are a fortunate soul, you never have much in the way of claims, so you pay out more in premiums and are a net loser. If you are an unfortunate schmuck, you have claims that are more than the premiums you paid in, but due to deductibles, they never really cover all of the loss, and you are still a net loser.

Who wins in this situation? The rich, who can "self-insure". If a tree falls over on Bill Gates' house and he has to replace a few rooms, do you think he's waiting for the adjuster from Allstate to cut him a check? I think not.

Steering health care into the hands of the insurance business just ensures that Americans who have or at one time had health insurance are all losers.

[riderinthestorm]

21. My husband's medical care has reached over $1 million.

No way will he pay in as much as he's already gotten out.

Insurance is a gamble until you need it.

[izquierdista]

23. But you never know who will need it.

Which is why socialists keep insisting that everyone pitch in the same amount, then those who DO need it, will get it. But that's not good enough for the greedy, like the teabaggers, or the dead, like Ron Paul's campaign manager.

[bluestate10]

26. The solution may be states that have similar views clumping together.

The states can allow insurance companies to operate in their states only if those companies meet certain coverage standards for all citizens. In return, the states would have those companies as the exclusive insurers of their citizens. States can leverage well people against sick people to produce an insured profile that determines rates. If a Vermont and a Massachusetts pool the citizen base and limit the companies insuring only to those that meet state set requirements, both states could improve the health care of their citizens and protect the seriously ill.

[Hoosier Daddy]

17. Oops! Forgot to Rec this!

Fixed!

[robdogbucky]

18. Health-Benefit Costs Rise Most in Six Years

Health-Benefit Costs Rise Most in Six Years

By Jeffrey Young - Sep 27, 2011 10:12 AM PT

The cost for businesses to buy health coverage for workers rose the most this year since 2005 and may reach $32,175 for a family in 2021, according to a survey of private and public employers.

The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent in 2011 to $15,073, according to a poll of 2,088 private companies and state and local government agencies by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California, and the Chicago- based American Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust.

The groups’ findings, based on data collected through May, show that health insurance is consuming a bigger share of employer costs, preempting pay raises and making companies pass on more medical costs to their workers, benefit consultants said. The premiums reported are in effect for the full year.

“Rising health-care costs have crowded out other elements of the compensation package,” said Randall Abbott, a senior health-care consultant at Towers Watson & Co. (TW)“That’s the price we are paying, beyond the fact that health-care cost in and of itself continues to be more expensive.”

The average price of a family plan has risen 113 percent since 2001, the organizations reported...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-27/health-benefit-costs-rise-most-in-six-years-surpassing-15-000-per-family.html

[JCMach1]

19. Many people would be better off banking the money, finding less expensive doctors for checkups

and ordinary visits.

If hit by something big, become a medical tourist!

I am only half-kidding...

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. You are right about that.

People will start to figure out better alternatives.

I'm surprised some foreward thinkers haven't come up with some creative solutions.

[JCMach1]

33. Heart bypass in states = 100K plus

India= 2-15K

[Divine Discontent]

24. yep! people are being priced out because of profit seeking! this saying says it all --

http://www.zazzle.com/pd/styles/pd-235100902528698842?dp=&qs=health%20insurance%20profits%20are%20bad%20gifts&tl=Health%20Insurance%20Profits%20Are%20Bad%20Gifts

[Quantess]

25. The USA spends more per capita on health care

than any other country in the world, by far, and yet the outcome is only #37 from the top, IIRC.

[SoCalDem]

28. and a generation ago, many people never even needed health insurance

Granted, medical care has gotten more complicated, but with the added costs for all of us, one could wonder why we seem so un-healthy..

When I was young, I never knew anyone who was diabetic, or who had asthma, or was allergic to peanuts , or was lactose intolerant, or was seriously obese, or any number of other things that are common now.
I know that diagnostics have improved too, but sheeez.. it costs more and we are getting sicker.. we may be "living longer"...but sicker:(

[fadedrose]

30. Ah, the good old days...

Doctors were open every day except Sunday and Wednesday, from morning till night - the good ones were open till ll pm, I could remember. Only one secretary, no computer. You were sent to the hospital for X-rays, but usually the doctor knew what was wrong before you got the results.

Total cost for the visit - about $7.00, but you had to wait. No appointments necessary. And even then the doctors were the richest men in town....and respected.

And nobody had health insurance.

[SoCalDem]

31. I took all three of my boys to the pediatrician at the same time

shots, exam..the works.. even free samples of meds for about $30..and our family doctor was also our next door neighbor:) talk about convenience:)..Poolside consultation

[NNN0LHI]

34. I would have been in the poorhouse without our union negotiated health insurance

My kids whom are grown up now were needing to go to the doctor or dentist for something all the time. One of my kids needed braces which I would have never been able to afford without dental insurance. Only thing that kept me out of bankruptcy was having our union negotiated health insurance coverage.

And I think I fit into that "a generation ago", description you used too. Didn't you have employer paid health insurance during that time?

Don

[loyalsister]

35. Get it while they can

A lot of the HR regulations don't kick in until 2014. They are tacking advantage of the time between now and then. It also serves to demonize the pending regulations and requirements. Clever.