Well my company's health insurance went up, again...

[shenaniganz]

Luckily the company is covering most of the increase, but I think it's getting hard for them to offer this benefit at such a low cost at the rate insurance costs keep rising every year. I'm just wondering how long it is until something gives, rates can't keep going up every year.

 

[DeadByDawn]

I feel the same way bud. Every year i get my couple % pay raise, and every year at the same time they raise how much I have to contribute to my health insurance costs. Something has to give.....

 

[Ogg]

Rates do go up every year cause no one has yet to overhaul the system. Im sure someone will explain it. We need to stop the way adn to who we pay!!


My insurance went up 7% this year. My company comes close to an 80/20 split with me. thankfully, though its still very expensive.:frown:

 

[shenaniganz]

My company is self insured up to a certain point. They did this to cushion some of the increasing costs a couple years ago. But every year they have to raise their deductibles and co-pays just to be able to afford the cost increase. I agree the whole system needs a complete overhaul.

 

[MystikMango]

In October my insurance almost doubled. Now I am paying ~$245 a month for family coverage.

 

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: MystikMango
In October my insurance almost doubled. Now I am paying ~$245 a month for family coverage.

I pay that every two weeks...

 

[DeadByDawn]

I guess I am pretty lucky, I only pay about $150 a month for the whole family, and my wife gets free insurance from her work so she is doubly-insured. But what the insurance covers, and the deductibles suck. Seems like they deny everything, and even though she has two insurance coverages, I always have to pay out of pocket for lots of stuff......

 

[IGBT]

AIDS,HIV and undocumented hospital walk in's are costing California alone 4 billion a year..gona bust the system. Wasen't designed for this kind of chronic disease and no payer load...

 

[EXman]

illegal aliens are costing Cali and alot of other states as well.

 

[Hoober]

Our insurance went up this year like it has the last couple of years. I think that's to be expected. It hasn't become exorbitant and it's very good coverage, so I can't really complain. Since our baby arrived in November and the medical bills have started to roll in, I'm just thankful to have good insurance. I can't imaging covering these costs without it.

 

[shenaniganz]

Absurd lawsuits are also a cause of increasing costs.

 

[BigSmooth]

Another problem is that new prescription drugs are often insanely expensive here in the U.S.

 

[C'DaleRider]

Originally posted by: shenaniganz
Absurd lawsuits are also a cause of increasing costs.

That is such a small part of the health care cost rise, it's absurd to harp on it.

The reason for the continuing increase in health care costs for us is the 45 million of uninsured working people in the U.S. ......since they have no health insurance, they avoid going to doctor's offices to take care of a problem when it'd be cheap to take care of it. Instead, they wait until it becomes a problem too big to ignore, go to the ER, the most expensive and least effective place (no followup care at all to determine proper outcome of treatment) to go to get something taken care of, and since they cannot pay, the bill is unpaid or underpaid. Therefore, the hospitals jack up the prices of everything they bill for to get insurance companies to pay the uncollected costs they face by billing continually higer fees.

Ever wonder why a box of Kleenex costs $20 in a hospital? Or why hospitals charge $5 for a cotton ball? Or a room charge of $200-$500 a day....just for the room? They separately bill for each and every thing that is brought into the room....that crappy "patient care" kit (the one with the plastic jug, bed pan, basin.....that runs around $100 for that kit)...the O2 delivered to you and the way its delivered, and on and on.

The actual cost of all that stuff is not represented by what's charged........not by a long shot. But when a hospital has to cover millions in unpaid/underpaid bills by people with no insurance, the only answer, other than continual bankruptcy for the hospitals, is to overcharge the ones that do have insurance. So the insurance companies, knowing the game, continually charge more and more for premiums.....and the company you work for has to continually raise your rates to compensate, and the vicious cycle continues and will continue, because as the population ages, so will the cost of health care.....chronic diseases cost a lot to treat out of the ER....and for some, the ER is the only option because an ER cannot refuse treatment. So we all end up paying for the uninsured/underinsured.....either through increasing taxation or increasing health ins. premiums.

 

[PanzerIV]

C'DaleRider I think you're absolutely correct in that assesment.

 

[shenaniganz]

I wasn't harping on the topic of lawsuits. And I agree with you that uninsured people going in for medical care are a large portion of the insurance increases. But huge lawsuits are estimated to account for about $100 billion per year in healt costs.

 

[Yossarian]

You should go on strike.

 

[Argo]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider

Originally posted by: shenaniganz
Absurd lawsuits are also a cause of increasing costs.

That is such a small part of the health care cost rise, it's absurd to harp on it.

The reason for the continuing increase in health care costs for us is the 45 million of uninsured working people in the U.S. ......since they have no health insurance, they avoid going to doctor's offices to take care of a problem when it'd be cheap to take care of it. Instead, they wait until it becomes a problem too big to ignore, go to the ER, the most expensive and least effective place (no followup care at all to determine proper outcome of treatment) to go to get something taken care of, and since they cannot pay, the bill is unpaid or underpaid. Therefore, the hospitals jack up the prices of everything they bill for to get insurance companies to pay the uncollected costs they face by billing continually higer fees.

Ever wonder why a box of Kleenex costs $20 in a hospital? Or why hospitals charge $5 for a cotton ball? Or a room charge of $200-$500 a day....just for the room? They separately bill for each and every thing that is brought into the room....that crappy "patient care" kit (the one with the plastic jug, bed pan, basin.....that runs around $100 for that kit)...the O2 delivered to you and the way its delivered, and on and on.

The actual cost of all that stuff is not represented by what's charged........not by a long shot. But when a hospital has to cover millions in unpaid/underpaid bills by people with no insurance, the only answer, other than continual bankruptcy for the hospitals, is to overcharge the ones that do have insurance. So the insurance companies, knowing the game, continually charge more and more for premiums.....and the company you work for has to continually raise your rates to compensate, and the vicious cycle continues and will continue, because as the population ages, so will the cost of health care.....chronic diseases cost a lot to treat out of the ER....and for some, the ER is the only option because an ER cannot refuse treatment. So we all end up paying for the uninsured/underinsured.....either through increasing taxation or increasing health ins. premiums.

That's pretty good explanation. Btw, are hospitals required by law to have an ER room?

 

[Spencer278]

I think the main reason insurance is going up so much is the lack of cures for diseases. Everything new in medicien tends to require many treatments or on going treatment. In addition the goverment insurance programs don't pay out for the full cost so the hospital pass the loses on to others. Add the effect of everyone abousing the system by seek medical care when not needed.

The question is when are the other 250 million people going to notice it is cheaper not having insurance.

 

[przero]

Unnecessary trips to a doctor also help dri insurance costs up.