High Cost of Health Insurance

I am so tired of the people I work with complaining that they aren't getting raises this year or losing employer contribution to 401Ks because of Obamacare. Obamacare as an idea is good and is meant to drive down the cost of healthcare. Insurance companies began hiking insurance premiums before it even took effect to off set the bite out of there bottom line that was surely going to happen by the pre-existing conditions clause (Greedy S.O.B.'s) The problem is if our nation is not going to adopt a socialized healthcare structure than legislation needs to be passed making for-profit insurance companies illegal and adopt a fee for service structure across the board whether insured or not. Nobody should be profiting off who lives and who dies, and nobody should be dying because they can't afford healthcare IMO. This IS America.

http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/Spending_Among_30_Countries

 

Making insurance companies use Obamacare is not going to drive down the cost of healthcare. Under Obamacare, hospitals will be forced to staff more nurses and physicians. They will have to invest in more technology in the hospitals. So insurance companies will still have to charge the same premiums or more because medical care is expensive. Insurance companies are not the problem. They are required to use a minimum of 86% of your money towards coverage and the rest is general administration cost.

I won't even get into the problems it creates for businesses who are forced to provide coverage for their employees once they hit the employee head count threshold. It is added cost, companies won't want to hire additional employees, and companies will be moving employees down to part-time status to avoid it as well.

 

Let's not forget the new taxes on medical devices costing over $100 (that's like all of them, just about) that will drive up the costs. And the taxes that are or will be levied on pharmaceutical companies that will drive up the cost of prescriptions.

As for your statement about health insurance companies, they're rolling in the dough and have always been.

Are there certain aspects of Obamacare that are good? Absolutely: no preexisting conditions is awesome.

But there needs to be a better way.

Here is a website that shows what Obamacare taxes will be put into effect this January: http://www.atr.org/five-worst-obamacare-taxes-coming-a7217

 

I think the idea that EVERYONE should have access to affordable health coverage and care. Obamacare was an attempt to do that within a partisan house and senate. It's not perfect but it is a step.
All I'm trying to say is our healthcare system needs to be completely revamped and restructured because Healthcare as a capitalist enterprise isn't working for anybody but those profiting.

 

General Administration Cost = CEO pocket

 

Just to add a little balance to the conversation about healthcare reform

Powerful testimony from the front lines
http://azstarnet.com/article_315dac7d-9441-5a8b-85c3-486e2964a54b.html


http://thinkprogress.org/health/201...reduces-costs-for-small-businesses/?mobile=nc

 

Ahh yes...the mythical "evil CEO". Always wanting to steal millions illegally from the company and risk imprisonment. lol!

General administration cost= paying employees to do their job

 

Everyone having access doesn't mean that it will be affordable. In fact, everyone having access only raises healthcare costs.

 

Thanks for the links. The issue with the thinkprogress article is that it is applying projected costs to businesses who already have insurance. This is not showing businesses who would be forced to provide coverage for the first time.

 

How does it raise costs? You thinking moral hazards?

 

It raises costs because someone has to pay for care.
If you didn't have it before, guess what you are going to have to pay for it now.

The problem is that this is simply not looking at the whole picture of not having healthcare and being sick. People still go to hospitals. Some get care and never pay. That's why the prices rise. You still have to pay the people at the hospital.
It is a stupid arguement of "oh prices will rise" as if inflation has disappeared for the last 200 years ????

As if, Hospitals are not going to charge higher prices to make up for those who can't pay for care.




However, you see little to no ideas from the right.

 

Yes you are right that people without insurance flood the emergency rooms for non-emergency reasons such as coughs and runny noses that should be treated at a family doctor's office or clinic. Many uninsured treat the ER as if it were their doctor office because they will not be turned away because of inability to pay up front...that doesn't mean they're not billed (yeah most never pay). The charge for physician assessment is the same for a cough as it is if you were hit by a bus and hanging on to dear life, although it depends on if you are insured or not. The fee for uninsured is always higher than the insured because the insurance companies negotiate fair prices for services based on the medicaid service guidelines. Nobody negotiates for the uninsured and sometimes they pay three times or more what an insured person pays for a service. I see this as another way of keeping the poor poor. However, these non-emergencies that flood the ER's extend care times and overall cost of care in itself.

My point in this thread was that this is America and healthcare should be a right not a privilege. People are so against "socialized" healthcare yet we spend billions of dollars on medicaid/medicare and if that is not socialized healthcare what do you call it. There is a better way. I am providing links to a Frontline special I watched years ago that helped shape my views and opinions on this matter. It is about Five Capitalist and Democratic countries and their healthcare models. Although none are perfect, all are better then our current system.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/#morelink

Other Information
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/models.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

 

Archa you are 100% spot on. I work in accounting/med facility and the cost is shared by the uninsured. YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN PAYING FOR THEM PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you only knew. Get educated. Look up Hill Burton and related programs that force facilities to take uninsureds.

People will use what falls within their insurance plan provisions. Insurance can deny excessive use of ER or make deductibles higher. That stops unintended use of ER's and forces people to Dr's offices and clinics for true non emergent care.

Jameswilson you like to scare people. You just aren't an expert in every field you speak of though. If you could only see the facilities' books and see how they redistribute the cost of care for the uninsured. Then you would know of what you speak.

Little will change because sick people are already being cared for.......

 

He's an economist, not an accountant or financier. It's personal philosophy conflicting with actual mathematics and quite frankly, their only job is to simply predict the outcomes of the overall economy, but given that it's philosophical, he will adhere to blatant bias.

In other words, safer to disregard his information altogether and rely on your own expertise.

 

Adding another insurer does nothing to lower costs. Costs will rise because hospitals will have to expand with more beds, more medical technology, more nurses, more physicians, more admin staff, etc. The cost of procedures will still be the same as well.

 

What?? I don't like to scare people. I never said I was an expert in healthcare, but I know that insurance companies don't set the prices. Quality healthcare is expensive and insurance companies must charge premiums that will cover the cost.

 

I can't begin to tell you everything that is wrong with this statement. You don't think the uninsured aren't in the hospitals taking up beds, getting testing or getting use of medical technology, and don't get physician or nursing care? You are so wrong. 90% of the people I care for are uninsured or on Medicaid or CHIP which is funded by taxpayers. Many uninsured end up getting care when illness hits a critical and costly point, not at a preventive and economical point. But they still are getting care none the less. Please watch http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/#morelink
before you comment further.

 

Of course there are uninsured people who go to the Emergency Room and receive medical care. But the fact is that individuals with insurance have far more visits due to the availability of regular checkups. So staff, beds, equipment, etc. will need to be increased. Plus, the cost of the procedures are still the same. So this is just about shifting the burden of costs.

 

Haha......HMO, PPO, Medicaid and Medicare are all contractual. You get a set amount per diagnosis. The amount is set by them not the hospital. If they want to be a preferred provider they accept the offer. That is why healthcare is so expensive for those who aren't on contracts. So you better stop while you look like you know what you are talking about. :roll:

 

There are exceptions to go over the cap. And you do realize that you have two fees right? You will still be charged the normal physician fee on top of the procedure fee. So I think you should stop while you look like you know what you're talking about.