Health Insurance is EXPENSIVE!!

[Cubbiecakes]

premiums for the aca went up considerably in 2017.

Even more for 2018.

Yes, because politicians on both sides were paid off by insurance companies to kill provisions of the law that capped premiums.

People seem to be missing the primary reason why healthcare is so expensive, and that is because of insurance. The insurance lobby is powerful, and there’s nothing both of our political parties love more than money (we have the best government that corporations can buy!), so when you ask why something is expensive, look to see who is getting paid to make/keep it expensive.

And it’s so much more than this, but it’s also not just actual “costs” but what leads to costs like what drs & other lucrative health care professionals get paid. It’s not all specialties, but some are just down right ridiculous.

Going after doctors is wrong-headed. If you disincentivize people from staying/entering in the medical field (one that requires a lot of effort, a lot of money, and a punishing amount of insurance), then you simply make the problem worse by reducing the availability of something that’s already too expensive, which makes it even more expensive.

 

[LSUmiss]

Yes, because politicians on both sides were paid off by insurance companies to kill provisions of the law that capped premiums.

People seem to be missing the primary reason why healthcare is so expensive, and that is because of insurance. The insurance lobby is powerful, and there’s nothing both of our political parties love more than money (we have the best government that corporations can buy!), so when you ask why something is expensive, look to see who is getting paid to make/keep it expensive.


Going after doctors is wrong-headed. If you disincentivize people from staying/entering in the medical field (one that requires a lot of effort, a lot of money, and a punishing amount of insurance), then you simply make the problem worse by reducing the availability of something that’s already too expensive, which makes it even more expensive.

Perhaps. And there are many entities getting paid too much $$. But a helping profession should not be as lucrative as some fields can be. When you’re paid big $$$ for procedures sometimes I think it can effect judgment of the necessity of those procedures.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Yes, because politicians on both sides were paid off by insurance companies to kill provisions of the law that capped premiums.

People seem to be missing the primary reason why healthcare is so expensive, and that is because of insurance. The insurance lobby is powerful, and there’s nothing both of our political parties love more than money (we have the best government that corporations can buy!), so when you ask why something is expensive, look to see who is getting paid to make/keep it expensive.


Going after doctors is wrong-headed. If you disincentivize people from staying/entering in the medical field (one that requires a lot of effort, a lot of money, and a punishing amount of insurance), then you simply make the problem worse by reducing the availability of something that’s already too expensive, which makes it even more expensive.

Insurance is a big piece of it to be certain. But, there’s plenty of other expenses that need to be capped as well - many of which are driving the cost of insurance up.

 

[BLAZEY]

But, a big part of the reason that the cost PER treatment (which I agree is very high) is because there are so many people who are uninsured/underinsured and therefore the hospitals/doctors are forced to make their treatment costs exceedingly high to cover the people who don't pay at all. Another big part of the reason is that medical device costs and drug prices in THIS country are significantly higher than in other countries. Why do we pay so much more than Canadians or Germans for the same drugs? Hmmmm. Such a mystery.

How many people even with insurance wait to seek medical treatment until much later when the treatment required is more complicated and expensive. Rather than going to a clinic or urgent care when the problem isn't to bad because they can't afford the co-pay this month, they wait, then go to the ER as it is now an emergency, which is even more expensive. Gets sent to collections as they still can't afford the out of pocket portion, which then adds costs. It's a vicious cycle, for something that is a basic need and in the view of most of the world a basic right.

 

[MuppetFan418]

My “good” family plan at work is $1,726/month my cost. It’s still an 80/20 with $3,500 deductible and $6,000 max OOP.

Holy Toledo. My employer's "good" individual (not family) PPO plan costs around $150.00 per month (my cost); in-network services are 100% covered after $500 deductible (plus nominal copays between $20 and $30 for office visits and Urgent Care and a $150 copay for ER) and OOP max is $2000. Prescription tiers are $7, $30, $50 but prescription copays count toward OOP max.

My pay could certainly be better but, after reading about some of these other employer-sponsored plans, I'm thanking my lucky stars for my employer's plan.

 

[longboard55]

Part of the problem is a lot of people are not paying these high prices because they are on medicare or the employer is paying. Just sayin that it will not last forever, at some point the employers throw in the towel and say no more, and at some point medicare will no able to handle it. High premiums are everyone problem, not just ACA people.

 

[trip]

It will be interesting to see what Berkshire, Amazon and JPMorgan come up with for their workers. Maybe it will lead to some better methods of receiving health care.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Really? No alternatives? We could try looking at any of European countries, Canada, Australia, most of Asia, etc, and see if maybe they have any ideas. I can tell you that our German exchange student is dumbfounded at the way our health care system works (or doesn't). Her mother is a pediatrician in Germany, so she's pretty well versed in how that system works.

Access to neighborhood clinics would help tremendously. Physicians routinely send patients to the ER, instead of treating them in the office, due to low reimbursement and liability. JMO

Another thing stands out in my experience with German healthcare. The way they (don't) prescribe medication. One HUGE cost eliminated. Drugs are outrageous. IMO

 

[AdamEfimoff]

I heard in san Francisco you can get a quote of $4000. I do not remember the exact number. But it was some really non est factum number

 

[tex1989]

I consider myself "lucky" compared to what I am reading here. Kids are out of the house and my portion of a PPO plan with $30 co-pay ($50 for a specialist) and no cost for any procedure they can do in the office, dental, and eye coverage, legal plan, and 2X annual salary life insurance plus the 2X life insurance the company pays with $50K life on my wife costs me $600 a month. Disclaimer: I work for a large multinational Energy Company. I have worked in the energy industry for 37 years and in my 19th year with my current employer. I learned early on in my career that the energy industry segment compensated workers very differently from the rest of the world. I was lucky enough to be born in an area with these types of companies went to college there and started my career there and have continued it for all these years.

Still as fortunate as I am I still see a massive need for new solutions to healthcare costs and understand I am in the minority of folks in the US.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

OP never explained how she "lost" employer-sponsored healthcare. Fact is, without employers bearing the bulk of healthcare costs, insurance has always been and will always be expensive. ACA hasn't changed that, nor is ACA the reason for it.

When I was in college in the 90s - obviously long before ACA - because I wasn't allowed to remain on my parents' insurance, I paid $300 per month for my health insurance OOP which I paid for from my part-time job, which had no benefits.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

OP never explained how she "lost" employer-sponsored healthcare. Fact is, without employers bearing the bulk of healthcare costs, insurance has always been and will always be expensive. ACA hasn't changed that, nor is ACA the reason for it.

When I was in college in the 90s - obviously long before ACA - because I wasn't allowed to remain on my parents' insurance, I paid $300 per month for my health insurance OOP which I paid for from my part-time job, which had no benefits.

I think one of the big failures of the ACA is that it didn’t at all level the field for those who don’t have great plans through their employers. For many years, we were buying plans outside of work, paying much more than the average person who has a plan through work, AND we were not allowed to take the same tax advantages of those who were paying for plans through payroll deductions.

 

[morgan98]

I think one of the big failures of the ACA is that it didn’t at all level the field for those who don’t have great plans through their employers. For many years, we were buying plans outside of work, paying much more than the average person who has a plan through work, AND we were not allowed to take the same tax advantages of those who were paying for plans through payroll deductions.

I remember when the ACA was first rolled out that leveling the playing field, so to speak, was supposed to be one of the main attributes. However, I think it was hard to make the dollars work, because the employers are in fact paying various percentages of the premium depending upon what they agree to pay and not pass on to the employee.

I think the continued lack of somewhat affordable plans with decent coverage keep people at jobs they do not necessarily want, keep people at jobs longer than otherwise so they do not open up for younger workers and keep people from retiring a few years early. When you think about needing almost $2000 a month for healthcare insurance premiums (even before expenses) it makes any kind of retirement before medicare age a pipe dream for many.

 

[longboard55]

I am self a self employed engineer, and to be honest I make a lot of money without any marketing effort at all, part of the reason is no one wants to leave big companies to work on their own because they will lose health care. The system we have were you are dependent on working for a big company in order to get health care is not good for the economy. For my wife and I we pay a total of about $1800 a month for health insurance , that is not acceptable to most people. At least with ACA you know you can get health insurance, before ACA it was a total unknown. Insurance companies do not like to insure anyone over 50, they just do not. Give them a choice and they will only insure males under 40

 

[disneychrista]

OP never explained how she "lost" employer-sponsored healthcare. Fact is, without employers bearing the bulk of healthcare costs, insurance has always been and will always be expensive. ACA hasn't changed that, nor is ACA the reason for it.

When I was in college in the 90s - obviously long before ACA - because I wasn't allowed to remain on my parents' insurance, I paid $300 per month for my health insurance OOP which I paid for from my part-time job, which had no benefits.

Not that it matters (anymore) but I lost my employer sponsored benefits because the company I worked for went belly-up.

And while healthcare/insurance has always been expensive, I just don't agree with the NAME "AFFORDABLE" Care Act. Because there is nothing affordable about it.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

delete

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Also, there is a lot of sleight-of-hand going in with regard to the whole in-network vs. out-of-network designation. I was in the hospital a while back for 3 weeks, and the illness that I had required 3x daily blood testing. This was a major regional medical center, not a small community hospital. I was in-patient, and the hospital was in-network, yet my EOBs showed a huge number of services performed by an out-of-network physician who I was quite sure that I'd never seen, and whose practice group I'd never heard of, either. I checked on this, and it turned out that he was the pathologist who was signing off on the blood test results. Now for the fun part: he ONLY worked in the hospital pathology lab; nowhere else, a straight 9-to-5 job. However, he didn't work FOR the hospital, he worked for a paper corporation that the hospital created to do its benefits management. I flat refused to pay the $6K in out-of-network co-pays that I supposedly owed for his services, and the insurance company eventually agreed with me. If the hospital was in-network and it was the only place that this physician worked, then he couldn't be out-of-network.

I think they pull that a lot because I had a similar thing happen to me.

 

[Marchand63]

I am always shocked at how much the private sector have to pay for health insurance I think we pay 350 a month for the two of Us and that’s considered the family plan so some people have five or six or seven or more people on the same plan pay the same amount

 

[manning]

Health insurance is very expensive, no doubt about it. However, the health care field in many instances does take a hit. If someone is uninsured and shows up at a hospital needing true emergency care, they must be treated. Same with the under insured. When they cannot pay their bills, the hospital and service providers have to eat that cost. That is a big reason why costs are inflated. In some cases, especially in inner cities, they collect far less than what they bill. The issue is much more complicated that just lowering the cost of delivery.

I heard that hospitals are turning to collection agencies

 

[crjack]

Dh and I have always worked in the private sector. What shocked me, and I am sure others, is how quickly your insurance costs can change from one year to the next. For years we used DH's benefits and we had an HMO with reasonable coverage.

Several years ago (we found out in Nov of that year) his company went to a high deductible health plan with an HSA. Within weeks our new plan had a 6K family deductible. That is a lot to absorb in a short amount of time.

Our youngest was in high school and our oldest was in college. Not a lot of free cash available then but I am so grateful we didn't have this plan when they were young and we went more frequently for required visits.

I don't know how young families manage with the high deductible plans