Health Insurance Reforms, You Will Be Truly Enamored Once You Understand It
Posted: Saturday, September 04, 2010
by David Levitt
So where do I start, with the good news or the bad news? Ok, let me start with the good news because there is so much more of it. For those of you that are still not convinced that our new national health insurance reform policies were written to assist "we the people", let me explain it to you. You will be truly enamored once you understand it.
Second, "but how does this help the literally millions of uninsured and underinsured people in America today", you might ask? That my friends is the best part of all. You have to buy it! That's right, you no longer have to be burdened with whether you can afford it or not, just dig deep and buy it.
This had the insurance companies quaking in their boots. Insurance stocks immediately started to go up at the beginning of the next day's trading on Wall Street, and several insurance executives had to be put on suicide watch because they were not sure exactly how they were going to handle the windfall.
Also, there will be no competing public option that would have forced health insurance companies to reevaluate their payment for services system that is the life's blood of our current health care delivery system. You can not improve on perfection, no matter how well intentioned you are.
For those of you concerned that these new rules may cut into the profits of our health insurance profits, crushing their will to deliver the best health care delivery system possible, do not despair. There is absolutely nothing that will hinder their ability to raise premiums, deductibles, co-pays, or co-insurance, assuring their viability and growth for generations to come.
Fortunately for us, "we the people', as insurance companies feared what the government was going to make them do to us, they were able to keep job-based family health insurance premiums down to only a 14% hike over last year. A $495 per family average, that thank God, employers were not picking up any of, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
Called a "recession survival tactic" by employers, over the past 5 years, workers share of premiums has increased $1300, or 47%. While overall coverage costs are up 27% over the same period, wages climbed 18%, for those that had jobs, and general inflation rose 12%.
Family coverage costs average $13,770 a year. Workers typically pay about 30%, or $3997, up from about $3515 last year. Even as they pay more, workers are getting fewer benefits. 30% of employers reduced benefits or increased out of pocket costs, while 23% raised premiums, and employers are raising annual deductibles.
27% of covered workers pay annual deductibles of at least $1000 before their coverage kicks in. In companies of less than 200 employees it's 46%. "Insurance is getting stingier and less comprehensive every year", says Drew Altman, president and CEO of Kaiser Family Foundation, "but that's just his opinion", says I.
If you do not have the funds necessary to purchase your insurance, the government will help you based on your income level. So let's say for example, you were willing to sacrifice high cost health insurance so you could pay your mortgage, or pay for your ghastly high utility bills, or extraordinarily high vehicle insurance, or God forbid, groceries for your family, simply do without them. American's have a weight problem anyway and this would probably do us some good, and cut down on health insurance costs.
Or you could do like a lot of Americans that couldn't afford to share in their own health care costs have learned to do, and not use your health insurance coverage. This gives you the satisfaction of letting the health insurance companies use your premiums to help pay for those that could share in their own health care costs, and aides in keeping the overall costs of healthcare down.
So now for the bad news...Ok, there is no bad news, but the best news of all is that if we can just continue to put more big health insurance proponents into office, then it shouldn't be much longer until they've sucked every last cent out of everybody's pockets and then we will no longer have to worry about health care coverage at all.
To view the World Health Organizations ranking of the world's health systems use the following links, the first is for all countries, the second is for the United States
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More commentsHi David.Oh my! Such sly humor. Too bad it's the truth.Bernd just qualified for health insurance at his new job. Aside from the whole thing being basically indecipherable and the service offering it being very pushy and annoying, we don't think we can afford even the most inexpensive of the coverages offered.We've been without health insurance for a very long time now and we were hopeful that we could get at least a little coverage with his new job. We could probably afford to insure just him because his employer covers most of the cost of his premium. But he covers none of the spouses (me) premium. So, what if it's me that gets seriously sick? We'd still be in the same boat we are now and also out any premiums we'd paid in for Bernd's coverage to boot. It's a real dilemma. But I'm sure you've already given all this a lot of thought. We need some real and actual reform!Great article!DianneI totally understand Dianne. My wife has excellent insurance compared to a lot of peoples, and I am grateful for that, we pay only about $3300 a year for the 3 of us with only a $500 deductible. The economy has taken a toll on my business and I make about 1/3 of what I did 10 years ago. God I miss those days! As I am older that income is harder to replace, so I don't use it even though I should and sparingly for my partner and daughter, not a good thing. I am not crying because I know many in worse shape than I, and it is for those that I am. Since my mother's (75 years old) medicare became so entwined with for profit insurance she literally cries trying to navigate it when she has to use it, and has stated many times it's just not worth it, and she knows that industry inside out. I grieve for those that didn't and just chose to forgo the hassles.Thanks for reading and commenting.
It seems that runaway, uncontrolled costs will cause health care in this country to fall on its own sword when we can neither afford the premiums nor the up front expenses. India performs the same procedures, and drugs, for about 10% of the cost here in America. Everyone is trying to make a killing here, and will eventually kill the proverbial golden goose.Best.....eA microcosm of what we're doing to this country as a whole, I suggest sir. I think that the fortune and power that these particular few people derive from this wealth is just so overpowering it blinds them (or maybe not) to the fact that they are killing that proverbial goose. It is sad that they are willing to destroy this planet, the people on it, and their own children's future, to bask in the glory of the moment.Thank you sir for your comment.
Astute, well-informed and informing article David- Glad somebody's keeping up with all this- Thanks- Always- EllaLeast I could do for my Royal Highness. :-)Your a sweetie, thanks.
I don't understand the health insurance program in this country, luckily I have the VA handle all my health issues. However I am concerned about how the average family deals with health coverage.That's just it Dave, the average family doesn't deal with health coverage, they have none. Poor, have it administered by the government, upper middle class can afford the co-pays and deductibles involved, but if they ever have to use it wind up on the poor farm, rich pay a little more but get everything beyond paid 100%, the average person either has it but can't afford the additional out of pocket costs so they can't use it, or just plain don't have it because they can't afford it. A majority of Americans fall in the have it but can't use it category, and effectively wind up subsidizing the rich with their premiums or poor with their taxes.Thank you for the comment.
Interesting article, which really helped me to learn more about the health insurance reforms. Thanks for sharing...Thank you sir, but from the looks of your flags you live under a different set of health delivery anyway, do you not?Thanks for the comment.
Not knowing very much about the changes that are occurring in "new health care" I appreciate the knowledge you conveyed. Sounds like we need some serious tweaking!SteveI guess tweaking is in the eye of the beholder, but I certainly agree with your assessment Steve.Thanks for reading and the comment.
One reason health care will remain illusive is that on average health insurance executives are smarter than lawmakers and government officials. Regardless of what government does, these executives will find a way to offset their cost and keep profits at whatever level they want them. The ordinary people will almost always be the ones to pay the real cost. Thanks, David, for the article. ~mogama~Lawmakers and government officials are sneaky like a fox. They would like us to believe that they are clueless, when in actuality they love the money they get from the insurance executives and will do nothing to offset that cash cow until forced.Thank you for reading and the comment Mr.Mogama.
Very nicely done, sir. This is a great read.Thank you Michael.
I was just thinking about the movie Sicko... the Michael Moore film. Scary to think about all the folks without health insurance... or the ones knowing they can't pay the mortgage because they have to feed the monster (the insurance premiums). Well, perhaps our constitution should say, "survival of the fittest...?" God bless America!Doesn't it? Shhh, I've seen that movie.Thanks Mr.Bromberg.**whispering** "It's ok, I won't tell anybody"
Now were learning about more details of our Christmas package from Nancy Pelosi. Interesting article David.
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