This is why during the debates and subsequent Obama care, the Citizens of the US needed a Single Payer option on the table. Even the Medicare for all with low and reduced premiums would be better.

The Health Insurance Industry is a gluttonous mass of greed. They charge huge amounts for their premiums and then add all the co-pays, deductibles and out of pocket expenses. They should be regulated, and with MORE competition.

I retired early and my premiums for my insurance went from $75. to $320 a month in one year.......I can't afford the premium on a fixed income and I can't afford to go to the Dr either OR my prescriptions....... I PAY A TON OF MONEY and can't afford to go to the Dr. WTF?

I'd like to see the % of people that are not covered by an insurance plan before making any decisions on what this article means. It could be that more couples are going with their spouses plan, and more 20 something kids are on their parents plans.

All I know is that my wife's pregnancy has cost us about $40 so far. The medical bills so far would have been $15,000 because she's on infusion therapy to take care of Hyperemesis. The Labor/Delivery charge from our OB/GYN of roughly $4500 is 100% covered. The hospital charges for delivery will run me around $50.

believe me I understand. i pay $300 a month for coverage the medicines I use cost $200 monthly.. deductibles are $45 for an office visit.... Im paying $500 monthly in health care cost! it's more than my grocery bill and gasoline bill combined for the month. there is only one income coming in to the household. $500 is really taking it's toll. How the hell can I save for retirement or kids college or (pipe dream insert here)..INVEST in the markets..completely laughable and SAD...what would anyone do with $500 added back to your disposable income every month? think about it.. my Republican friends... really think about it...

If people can't afford the cost of subsidized insurance through their employer and hence are opting out - they sure as heck won't be able to pay the increased taxes that will result from "single payer" or any other government program - all of which are teetering on the brink of insolvency as I write this.

If people can't afford the cost of subsidized insurance through their employer and hence are opting out

When they get sick, they won't afford the health-care costs either. But don't worry, they'll just freeload, and the rest of us still paying will foot the bill.

Hey conservatives, we already have rationing of healthcare. The poor and lower middle class only have the emergency room and being hounded by bill collectors.

Hey conservatives, we already have rationing of healthcare. The poor and lower middle class only have the emergency room and being hounded by bill collectors.

I'm firmly middle class, but I have my priorities straight. Maybe those unable to "afford" health insurance should can the satellite TV and unlimited data phone plans for starters. Oh but that's right, what am I talking about? We live in the USA, the place where most people are seemingly unable to think but five seconds in front of their face.

I'm firmly middle class, but I have my priorities straight. Maybe those unable to "afford" health insurance should can the satellite TV and unlimited data phone plans for starters. Oh but that's right, what am I talking about? We live in the USA, the place where most people are seemingly unable to think but five seconds in front of their face.

Sounds great. But now conservatives don't want a mandate. Right now the insured pay for these people's bad choices. Someone has to pay or start kicking people out of the ERs to die on the street. Is that the kind of place you want to live? What's the solution? Do we just want to complain about other people without solving anything?

Sounds great. But now conservatives don't want a mandate. Right now the insured pay for these people's bad choices.

I want a mandate, because with more people paying insurance, we will all pay less.

However, if SCOTUS throws out the mandate, I think the health care companies should sue. Since mandating people to buy insurance to pay for a service is unconstitutional, then mandating companies to provide said service to people that can't pay is equally as unconstitutional.

As long as the medical and pharmaceutical industries keep grossly overcharging for their services the related health insurance industry will do the same until the system is broke, which it is. No one should have to file for bankruptcy just because they had the misfortune to get injured or sick. Whats the point of a cure if the results leave you in poverty?

I'm a Business owner and have been for years, FACT Insurance is going up so fast within 2 years I will not be able to offer coverage anymore. Not complaining, just stating the facts.

I just read about a guy who went to a Medical Group and negotiated benefits for his employees, yes it means your stuck with a set group of Doctors but he claims he saved thousands and the Practice makes more money.

Cut out the middle man and problem solved, or at least cheaper..

We don't "need" single payer. Based on majority of comments, most employees feel that the company insurance is too high. Well, even if you're healthy, your ins cost will remain because you are paying for all those who do need medical services. It's a Robin Hood scheme, and it's the same with single payer. If that's the case, a Medical Savings Account muight be your better alternative.

Republicans have not created this mess. Public sector unions and insurance companies have done it. The unions have screamed for more and more coverage over the years and insurance companies , knowing that tax payers would pay the bill, were happy to oblige and kept raising rates. Then private sector unions got on board and threatened to shut companies down if they didn't get their way and now you see where we are today. It has happened over quite a few years but you can't blame republicans unless you lie to yourself and say republicans are all for the unions.

You keep giving more and more benefits to people for free and pretty soon you go broke. You need to start taking something away, and then get blamed for the problem.

The people who do not pay their medical bills now, will never pay them, whatever system is put into place.

I have a doctor friend who donates one day of work every week, he thinks that it is helping.

"No one should have to file for bankruptcy just because they had the misfortune to get injured or sick."

Except that few people declare bankruptcy with medical costs as their sole debt. The reason they cannot afford their medical bills is because they are already in debt up the wazoo with credit cards, car loans, etc. If they weren't already living beyond their means, they could afford to pay the medical bills in most cases.

Read the article wrong wingers. The premiums haven't necessarily gone up, the quality of the coverage has gone down and wages have not been increased. Same work being done and more because productivity has increased, but wages (or if you prefer benefits) have not. Why, because more and more of the profits have gone to the upper crust including the Wall Street vultures. This is why taxes have to go up on ultra high earners. These "job creators" are not respecting ie compensating the workers, who make them their profits. In short, they make money the old fashioned way, they steal it from hard working poor people. Money is what a society says it is. If these uber rich folks want to relegate everyone else to permanent poverty status by not paying decent wages, then maybe we the people just decide that what you have in a bank account doesn't get you anything from us. This is why the republicans are so anti-union, they were the only entity that could force employers to negotiate. This and access to higher education is what created the middle class.

@JH, "unions created this mess".....pshaw !

Unions always make sure their employees are covered.

Employers are loving it that they don't have to pay for people dropping out of insurance.

@ Pat in CoCal - you are wrong, the premiums have absolutely gone up, there are lots of stats out there to prove it. The quality of care is still out there, the ACCESS to care has gone down due to companies having to take HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) to have a policy at all. Before Obamacare I had a nice PPO with a reasonable out of pocket. Now I'm on a HDHP with a deductible that is $5000, $10,000 for families. So no, we are not going to the Dr. now unless there is no choice as 100% comes out of our pockets first. In rural Ohio, where I live, that is an incredibly high deductible compared to our standard of living. We are currently working on our next renewal. All the brokers are saying we will have to take an even HIGHER deductible than what we currently have to be able to afford a policy. (Last year this time, our current plan was the max available. The insurance companies have had to adapt to not lose even more customers.) Oh, and that "return on premiums" we are supposed to receive if the company doesn't use 80% of our premiums? All the brokers says it's not going to happen as the companies are playing it close to the mark now. By the way, don't forget, the largest employer after the US govt. is small business, the very same folks who are being hit hard by Obamacare first. Wait until the rest of you have to join in in 2014.

@ Wakehead - you forgot those on Medicare and Medicaid for those having their health care rationed. Now most of the rest of us are joining them due to poor decisions our govt. has made. Thanks...(not)

"get a better job, make more money" - oh right, because those jobs are just EVERYWHERE!

i think i'll go grab one right now...silly me, cant believe i've been letting the unicorns and rainbows escape me this whole time. lalaland is awesome.

Hey, Ruken--no cell phone, no cable, no vacations, no eating out, no pets (waaaay to expensive), no music lessons for the kids, only allowed to play 1 sport per year, minimal presents for holidays...and STILL can barely afford our health care premiums or the actual care. You can be frugal as the day is long and still not manage to cover something that is increasing at an insane rate.

Crimson Wife: Typical right wing BS! This may be true for a small minority of such people. I have practically NO credit card debt, and I'm helping to support/put my child through school, but I still can't afford 8K, the charge to remove 2 small basal cell carcinomas from my face. A friend recently had an estimate for major dental work, 12K! She went to Belize and had the EXACT SAME work done for 1200! The prices charged in this country are beyond outrageous.

Phantom: Standing O!

Why is it that the cost of healthcare has gone up under Obama? For years, I can remember that the costs were no where near the rates it is today. You can contribute part of it to corporate greed, but you have to also consider the amount of illegals that are being let in to this country on a daily basis which Obama and most of the democrats have done nothing about.

It's time to wise up people! You cannot force all your blame on one thing and not think for a second that all your other "social" programs are not affecting those who work for a living. We cannot offer everything to everybody. You don't like the cost of healthcare. It's time to stop giving it away to those who do not belong in this county. You don't like the cost cutting in education, it's time to encourage people to go to work; because everyone knows sitting on your butts, collecting welfare, is not going to get you a job. And in order to get a job, you need a better education. Cut welfare, and instead give the money for education.

Oh and by the way, tell Obama that the US govt. is not his travel fund!

An employer offers family health insurance for say 50% of the premiums being paid for by the employee. A reasonable family health insurance plans costs $1,200 a month so that is $600. Someone earning minimum wage in my state has a gross pay of $1240 a month. Who could afford the premiums under these circumstances? Many are better off with a more affordable short term health insurance policy with catastrophic coverage. If nothing else, they will get the negotiated insurance rates for ordinary medical services. Either way you look at it, many Americans have a hard time affording to pay for something that year after year has increased in cost 2-3 times that of inflation.

@Phantom Beast - Your post is full of complete LIES. The CEO of United HealthCare did NOT make 128 M in CASH. The vast majority of his pay was for stock options moron.

You obviously do not have the brains to understand the investment capital business. If Bain had not bought the companies and restructured them, they would have gone completely out of business. Then where would the jobs be? That's right, flushed down the toilet. I have a relative who worked for one of those companies that Bain bought. Best thing that could ever have happened. The company was restructured and his job was SAVED !! Grow up and educate yourself....if that's even possible.

Jesse - How about this bit of wisdom. Someone making minimum wage shouldn't need a family health care plan because they have no business breeding when they are completely unskilled (or lazy or too studpid, etc.) such that they can only get a minimum wage job. Make sense now?

I've never took a companies insurance plan. In every state there are only 2 or 3 insurance companies offering insurance programs to companies that offer them to their employees. This is all the company has to choose from for his employees. The Ins Cos. work togather to keep their rate very close to each other. There is no compatition here. These companies are not allowed to cross state line and offer their serviceses to businesses in other states. The law that says they cannot cross line needs to be changed to allow employers to get better plans for their employees. If the law were changed these insurance co. wouldn't like it. It would mean that they would have to become competative and than they wouldn't have you across a barrell. Now I know sombody is going to rebuttle me for telling the truth. This will bring the liers out of the wood work, but it you can check on it yourself very easily. OK you bunch of theves have at.

Here's the trillion dollar question for all of you who demand "universal" health care, which many of you translate to mean, "free" health care. Well folks, there can be no such thing as FREE health care. Just how in the world is it going to be paid for?????????????????????????????? Funny, our country is what, almost 17 TRILLION dollars in debt. We borrow 42 cents of everything we spend. Come on, show me the money.

The Moron of the Year prize goes to the first poster who says "just tax the rich."

That’s a nearly 5 percentage point drop from December 2007, when the economy first went into recession

I love how the Republicans always blame it on the Democrats controlling Congress that caused the Economy to collapse. Facts and numbers don't lie, people lie.

After 6 years of Republican control of Congress and the idiot child Bush at the helm - Cheney and his NeoCons pulling his puppet strings - we spiraled into this Black Hole of Unemployment and No Single payer system that Obama originally wanted.

The Republicans whined and held his feet to the fire to give in and accept an inferior system. And the system is starting to show cracks.

People. When in the hell are you all going to wake up that health insurance is nothing more than a 100% SCAM.

Imagine if 100% of the people still being scammed cancelled their health insurance coverage tomorrow and started depositing their premium into a savings account. a) You just took ownership and responsibility for your own coverage away from the biggest scam ever. b) The scammers AND the government would completely FREAK while we all get a good chuckle. c) Competition and reasonable pricing would return to the health care providers overnight because when people are spending their own money they give a sh*t about how much it costs!

Here is what is really happening. The insurance companies made an agreement with Obama to reduce administrative costs. Some are doing not only the ethical thing, but also the moral thing. Some are not. There are carriers who are raising rates and reducing benefits and blaming it on the cost of health care. Meanwhile in order to reduce administrative costs, instead of the big dogs not taking reduction in bonuses or other perks. They are out soucing the processing of your medical claims, including the handling of your protected health care information. That means your information is not off American shores being handled in countries where they can get 3 or 4 people whose primary language is not English to handle your claims. They do not understand Medicare, Medicaid or a lot of concepts like large medical associations like the Mayo, Brigham or Duke.

The problem is now starting to feed on itself and the carriers are making all the worse for themselves by greed.

This is not what I have been hearing from friends and family...according to them premiums have gone up in preparation of Obamacare...Seems like MSNBC is playing diversion for the current administration...

About that

Obama and his comrades in congress pass Obamacare, no single change was acepted from Republicans in a majority controlled Congress, if Obamacare is not single payer is because Democrats want it like that, stop whining blame the people of your own party, because they pass a bill without reading the Bill because that is Democracy in the Democrat party. Obamacare will be declare unconstitutionally very soon,this is a Bill that double the estimated cost and most American DO NOT WANT IT , but whatever is left from this 3000 pages of fiasco will be subject to changes this is a Law that will make us lose our doctors, increase the cost of our insurance , already skyrocketing, and the government will decide who can have a treatment of not , base on cost and age (death panel). However Obama is spending 20 millions of taxpayer dollars to promote Obamacare to help his reelection campaign.

The reasons that health care coverage is going up so much are manifold.

1) Some people don't have any coverage so their costs via emergency room service gets absorbed by the rest of us, thereby increasing our rates.

2) People demand to have every single possible test be done, even when some are completely unneceessary and redundant, thereby increasing our rates.

3) To combat excessive "overcare" through unneccessary testing and such, the insurance companies hire well paid executives to review any significant treatment options and either approve or disapprove them (These are the REAL death panels, folks, and they are highly paid). These salaries add to company expenses which increases our rates.

4) The insurance companies are on the hook for the cost of medications, so the pharmaceutical companies keep developing more and more expensive treatments, to the point that some meds for cancer and such cost tens of thousands dollars a year. That cost for the one unlucky person who needs it gets covered by the rest of us, increasing our rates.

5) Top level insurance executives get paid bazillion dollar bonuses for figuring out ways to minimize care while maximizing income thereby guaranteeing returns to stockholders, all this increases our rates.

6) As all of these pressures are driving costs upward, there is very little competition which would normally drive price down. We all need coverage, our companies make arrangements with the insurers to offer it to us, and we are virtually trapped into buying it. The current Obamacare mandate seems to have made this part of the problem even worse, while it may alleviate part of problem #1, the result will probably be, our rates will go up.

So, what is the solution? Single payer system.

This eliminates:

#1 - Everyone is eligible

#2 - rationing of care would happen, get over it, it happens now.

#3 - because the rationed care choices would be made by medical boards composed of doctors and then applied to all, these executive salaries are instantly saved.

#4 - single payer, the government, has the power to heavily negotiate what fees will be paid for which meds, thereby decreasing costs.

#5 - goes away without saying. No more bazillion dollar top bonuses. No more shareholders. Go invest in some thing else, not people's well being.

#6 - efficiency within the system instead of duplicates on top of duplicates will decrease costs to all, improving health care outcomes for everyone.

In closing, under the nationalized single payer system, will my 85 year old grandmother be eligible for a quadruple bypass surgery? Not likely. She doesn't need to endure that horror and we as a society do not need to incurr that expense, just to prolong her life for maybe another few years. Death happens. Stop being afraid of it and instead focus on improving the quality of life and the economic productivity of everyone. That's how you make a better country.

Mostly the premiums for health care for the small business owner is the policies that are skyrocketing. Truth is, nobody wants these people to insure and that is why they make it so expensive.

Companies for years have absorbed double digit health care increases while passing on a percent or two to their employees. That day is over now. Companies are becoming less and less competitive in the global market because of these benefit increases that others do not have. This is a global economy and all nations are not starting with the same fixed costs. The US is extremely disadvantaged and hence by Apple put almost all their production in China.

At some point the US standard of living with sink enough to become equal with other nations that currently are living a much less standard of living. We are watching the big equalizer going on and unfortunately our government isn't brave enough to get specific and talk about those inequalities instead blaming the rich that have weathered wage erosion much better.

Some industries have much better margins than others, or they produce products in niche markets that do not compete with those offering cheaper products. This is where the US needs to focus instead of trying to compete in markets that are heavily subsidized in Asia.

Big pharma and the device makers will be paying billions to fund Obamacare because they believe they can do fine due to the increased amount of people that will be insured which amounts to an additional 35 million. They don't care that those folks will also qualify for subsidies and thus cost each taxpayer even more money out of their pocket. If you think that the ER will be less crowded think again. A person with a health care card that they do not pay a dime towards, will use the heck out of the card. This isn't an assumption this is a reality. They feel entitled.

I agree that a health care issue should not bankrupt any family. The problem is too many are living paycheck to paycheck because they have limited education, a thus a non skilled job that pays lousy with so so benefits.

It is a tough world about to get a lot tougher.

finds that 55.8 percent of employees were getting health insurance directly from their employer as of April 2011, the most recent data available. That’s a nearly 5 percentage point drop from December 2007, when the economy first went into recession, and the researchers said early research shows that the number probably fell further.

No, we dropped insurance when Obama started his BS with Obamacare that caused our premiums to go thru the roof with less coverage!

THANKS BARRY!!!

Myke

I spent sometime in a country with a single payer system, it is terrible and only wealthy people had good care, in private hospitals, where the same doctor from the government have their offices . I can tell for personal experience single payer is worst, more than 30 days to see the doctor,5 mins. per patient and basic medicine.

all I know is when they passed health care reform my company insurance went from $16 a week $52 a week the next year...their explanation...they are self insured and not knowing how many people were going to add dependents over the age of 18 they had to raise the rates to cover the potential increased cost... oh and then they doubled the deductible from $250 a year to 500 a year.

Well I figured since I seldom met the $250 it was foolish to pay those increases and just dropped it and use the ER for free now... I guess that's what the Gov was pushing for all along after all.

Health Care Prices GO UP, Obama is one and DONE!

Quit blaming "Obamacare" for the rising costs of premiums. I worked for a small company (under 50 employees) and six years ago our premiums started raising to where we would switch insurance companies every year to save money. Premiums have been on the rise for some time now and will continue as long as the insurance companies can get away with it. I feel sorry for those who work for minimum wage or even $30,000 a year - there's no way they can afford health insurance plus auto insurance.

yeah, but they can afford a new iphone and an ipad...and a plasma TV for every room in the house, tattoos, beer, cigarettes....

Yeah, health insurance is just not a necessity for those poor minimum wage workers

I suggest you take a trip down to your local health department, first note everyone sitting there waiting to be seen and count how many of them are texting on their iphones..I counted 30!

Then ask them how LONG they had to wait for that appointment to see the doctor? 3-4 months is the AVERAGE answer! God help you if you needed an antibiotic or heart medicine or a breathing treatment!

I think you will change your tune

If Americans (over two-thirds of whom are overweight or obese - which, let's be frank, likely includes at least some of you on this thread) maintained a healthy weight - if people took personal responsibility for their own health - all that money being spent on the myriad problems being caused by the effects of fat on organs would be freed up.

Massive savings (think of the price of pharmaceuticals alone) for us taxpayers! There'd already be enough money in the system for everyone.

Personal responsibility does not begin and end with paying for insurance. The pressure could also be eased by NEEDING less healthcare. Eating right; exercising; not smoking.

So instead of just seeing this as an issue of Paying For It, why not also include Not Needing It So Much? Considering that probably at least 80 percent of the population is either overweight or smokes, I'm not seeing a lot of personal responsibility here in America.

Heaven forbid that anyone suggests that the answer lies in putting down that fork or cigarette. By gosh, we're entitled to need that healthcare we can't afford! Let's shovel money into the system with the same gusto that we use to shovel chips into our mouths.

About,

Grow up!! Everyone is tired of hearling how the Republicans did all this bad stuff... Here's a tidbit for you...Democrats voted right along with Republicans to continue funding the war year after year. Democrats also held the majority in both houses of congress the two years while Bush was in office (coincidently during the biggest lost in jobs...). So before you sit there and whine about all the bad Republicans, look in the mirror...you just as much damage as the Republicans did...and now with Obama in office, spending like a kid in a candy store, the prospects are not very bright for a great America...

Tell me again why we don't need some kind of national health care plan!!! This is pathetic.

This article is a little off sided. In a family with two earners, usually one earner opts out of their company's plan because they are on the other earner's plan. For example, both my husband and I work, but because the plan that I have was better, he opted out of his company's plan and is on my medical plan. How do they know why a person "opted out?" It doesn't mention that at all.

yes it does....

Some who drop their employer’s coverage may be switching to cheaper private plans or getting covered by a spouse, partner or parent. The percentage of workers who are covered as a dependent on someone else’s plan has held steady at around 17 percent.

It is a tragedy that the USA, the world leader in so many areas including health care, is struggling to deliver affordable quality healthcare to its people. Perhaps Professor Vijay Govindrajan could shed some light on this with his experiences with “Reverse Innovation”.

The following is a “copy and cut” excerpt from the web relating to Prof. Vijay’s segment on Reverse Innovation.

“Traditionally, innovation has flowed in one direction: Products and services designed for markets in the developed world have been transplanted to emerging markets. “Reverse innovation” is the exact opposite: Innovation designed for poor-world consumers are rolled out to rich-world markets, where (somewhat counter-intuitevely) they meet with huge success.”

Often, innovative solutions for consumers in the poor world solve different problems for those in the rich world.

In the health care industry, innovations designed for emerging markets could trigger major changes in U.S. markets. America’s health care system is broken. It is the most expensive in the world, yet quality is often far from world class and access is far from universal.

The nation has struggled with issues of cost, quality, and access for decades. Much money has been wasted trying to fix the system via traditional innovation models. Yet in poor countries, experimental models are providing health care at ultra-low costs, with ultra-high quality and accessibility for all……………

Two other examples of reverse innovation in health care:

-Bangalore, India’s Narayana Hrudayalaya cardiac hospital offers $2000 open heart surgeries, accessible to all regardless of ability to pay. Only 40% of patients actually do pay the $ 2000, yet the hospital operates at a 35% profit margin without government subsidies on charitable funding. Internally generated funds alone allow it to build one new hospital every three years. Quality is world class, with lower mortality rates than top U.S. cardiac hospitals. How is this possible?

Surgeons have perfected the ability to work on beating hearts rather than using expensive heart/lung machines”.

I have not included the second example, there was no need to. Perhaps, it’s time to “rethink” the whole concept of health care delivery in the U.S. then there would be no need for people to struggle with the costs.

I am a conservative libertarian. I believe our nation is at the point that a single-payer is our only solution. However, it should be managed by 50 state non-profit boards - not state managed, private, non-profit boards. State legislature would have oversight, governor would have veto power.

We are never going to return to small government. All we can do now is our best to protect ourselves from corporate and federal control, as these are the two most corruptible organizations in our nation.

This will require malpractice reform or we will be buried by assaults on the deep pockets of the state.

I know there will be fraud and abuse. It will however eliminate the administrative cost of 1,000 insurance companies, and the endless paperwork that we pay for through added administrative jobs in each and every doctors office. And it addresses the issues posted in 1.37.

Like it or not, the government is forever involved in healthcare. Our best bet is to wrest control from the federal government now, before it is too late.

My United Health Care Choice Plus costs me $273 per month through my job. United Health Care does everything possible to prevent me from getting medical services, especially for specialists. United Health Care reimburses so little that most doctors will not go for UHC in-network status. And most of the doctors I go to are rude and tired. They don't really care if they help me or not. I am getting ripped off by United Health Care and doctors. I do everything I can to be healthy through my lifestyle choices. The health care and health insurance system sucks. Who could I turn to to complain? The system is a huge mess, and it sure isn't Obama's fault. By the way, UHC is based in UTAH!

This is for the dipstick that said that filing for bankruptcy was NOT due to medical bills, but because people live beyond their means.
People do file because the medical bills have gotten way out of control, maybe they could have afforded those things before getting ill. Ever think of that? No of course not, because your ilk is all about WHO can I SH&T on and then call a deadbeat.

I really do HATE conservatives, and that used to not be the case. I could talk to them and even see their way of thinking and I have even changed my mind about things after discussing?debating facts. But these conservatives are EVIL & NASTY creatures. I hope you or someone you love gets really sick, then lets see where you are.

Rick in the Forest

If people can't afford the cost of subsidized insurance through their employer and hence are opting out - they sure as heck won't be able to pay the increased taxes that will result from "single payer" or any other government program - all of which are teetering on the brink of insolvency as I write this.

Republican Fuzzy Math. If the purpose of health insurance is to "pool" the risk to hold down cost. If few if any health insurance companies have more than 30m policy holders. Single Payer would conceivable have 300m policy holders. Also the overhead for most private health insurance companies run about a 17% where Medicare runs about 5%. I suggest you visit healthPac.com for some interesting information. Tell us again how private health care insurance companies save us money?

Metta World Shanti - You are a true shill for the insurance companies. Is there even a small part of you that actually believes medical savings would be passed down from the CEOs to the policy holders...you crack me up!

Ruken,

the reason insurance costs so much is because services are used so much. That is because more people got on insurance, because the insurance will pay for it. The reason we have such high tech drugs and equipment is because "insurance" will pay for it. Insurance companies simply raise the rates to cover what they are going to have to pay out. Even in the ACA there is no incentive to cut costs. What is put in there to cut the costs is panels who will determine what services should cost, how much you should pay for health insurance, adn what drugs and services (cheapest ones) will be available for what ails you.

The ACA is on Big Blunder. Before the law was passed we were experiencing an average 12 - 14% increases in premiums annually. I hear these are now averaging 20 - 30% on average. This is because of the now mandated coverages we didn't used to pay for. Insurance is just passing the cost on to the buyer, and if they don't, they lose their jobs when the company fails.

The biggest mandates are coming in 2014. Health insurance companies will begin to fail within 1 year of 2014. First the Not-for profits will fail, then the for profit. Then we will have crummy one insurance fits all provided by government because private business couldn't do it.

No one can be all things to all people. Shortly after the health insurance companies are gone, our government will go belly up too, unless they ration more than the insurance companies ever did.

It is the same thing with college educations costs. Before we had severe limits on student loans and grants college education was expensive at 10 - 12,000 per year. Today we are looking at 4 year degrees with student loans between 120,000 and 200,000. The incentive is for colleges and universities to grow, because they can charge more because the student loans will pay for it, and the kids can get almost any amount today.

Like Herman Melville's, "Bartelby the Scrivener", they prefer not to.

Job - check

Transportation - check

Food - check

Place to live - check

Health Insurance - check

Cable, mobile phone, flat screen tv, surround sound, new furniture, alcohol, cigarettes, going out to eat, vacations, kids in soccer, etc., etc. ... ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE FIRST FIVE TAKEN CARE OF!

Any questions?

@"Real" American Dad - I feel your pain, and this article is definitely wrong on one count. The cost of insurance in this country hasn't stabilized. It's gone up at least 10% every year for the past decade, and it would be even worse if our carrier wasn't also raising deductibles and copays. My copay for HMO coverage is now $50. Fifty dollars. I now have the receptionist apologizing to me every time I have to pay it.

I will be one of those seeking other options as there is no way I can continue to pay for my employer's plan. Insurance is a rip-off for healthy people and I'm tired of picking up the tab for those who can't be bothered to take care of themselves. (i.e. obese, smokers, etc.) I figured I'd have to go to the doctor at least 40 times to offset the current yearly cost. Forget it. Time to switch to a high deductible, split pay "catastophic" type plan.

Your inability (and Joe, below) to connect the dots is stunning. Universal health care is the ONLY way to stop this destruction of the health care system and enable us to get control over costs. Oddly, it was a right wing Supreme Court justice who hinted at the alternative . . . stop providing these free services to the poor, indigent, uninsured. I can see it now . . these people dying in the streets and the "holier than thou right" no longer protesting about death panels.

Does the right have any solution? of course they do . .. but they dare not share it with the rest of us. After all, if you aren't wealthy, you deserve to die. Social Darwinism . . . no need for social supports . . . let capitalism decide who lives and who dies. Ya gotta love the hypocrisy of the right. But, after they destroy SS, Medicare, Medicaid, the health system, they point the finger at . . . . well . . . anyone else. That's their pattern. Destroy, underpay, pull support, and then declare that capitalism will anoint winners and losers. Oh well. Off to church, wrapped in a flag.

Another growing trend is people filing for 'medical' bankrupcy because they can't pay their huge medical bills.

Dave - thankfully I had insurance to cover me...but...

A recent trip to the ER for 5 hours, three blood tests, and three EKG's. My 'price' without coverage would have been over $11,000. Insurance company got it for $6k.

Who's screwing who?

Contrary to what the right lean says going to the ER is NOT FREE. My son who was not insured, got MRSA and almost lost his arm. He went to the hospital and ended up with almost a 10,000 bill. No job, no insurance, how exactly does he pay that? He can't. His credit is ruined, and sure they will take payments, but if he doesn't have a job how does he pay for it?

It is a vicious circle for people who need ACCESS to medical care. If my son would not have gone to the ER, he would have lost his arm at 24 yrs of age or died (this is what the ER Dr said). Now that he DID go to the ER he is ruined financially and will probably be paying on that 10k for years and years, until he can pay it off. We need UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.

Yeah, they get "free" care at the ER. Then they get a bill for $26,000, calls from collection agencies, default judgments against them, garnished wages, bankruptcy.

Sound like a bargain, doesn't it?

The right's mantra. "In the USA you deserve all the healthcare you can afford. Can't afford it; don't get sick."

We are also paying for 2 wars.

Idiot! Do you think anyone can get free open heart surgery, or chemotherapy for cancer, or a mastectomy, at the ER?! This "ER" argument is nothing but a stupid right wing lie.

I think it is also a left wing lie that we can afford to give everything to everybody.

You try running your household that way and see where that takes you!

Now kids aged 26 are covered under parents insurance. Somebody has to pay for it right? because of that stupid law kicked in my premium went up!, So, somebody else is paying for other's lazy kids. and govt is proud of it, encouraging free loading. Once free loading stops, people will automatically go find jobs.

myOH: Read the law, they can't stay on their parents plan for free, there are additional charges, they just can't be kicked off -- if yu would just read a little you wouldn't make these stupid mistakes.

jac-931625

raise taxes on everyone. get rid of obamacare, medicaid, medicare, and you should have plenty of money to cover the people.

"Stand and deliver. Your life, or your Lupins!" --Obligatory Monty Python reference

Joe, we pay either way. Except one way is managed and the other is out of control.

Francisco and Joe, do you not understand that you and I, and every one of us who is insured under today's insanely over-priced, sorry patchwork of a health "care" system, is paying for everyone who chooses not to buy insurance? What makes Obama's Affordable Care . . . .affordable. . . .is the fact that everyone pays and no one gets a free ride. That means the price goes down for all of us, because everyone chips in.

This is a zero sum situation. For everyone who is not insured, everyone else has to pick up the slack by paying higher premiums and deductibles. Because, as you said, Francisco, the uninsured go to the ER when they get sick. And we, the insured, pay for that. Therefore everyone needs to be insured. How does this not make sense to you? I don't see where we disagree on this point. So why are you so against Obama Care?

Ok, sticky subject. Everyone deserves to be healthy. But how do we pay for it? People need to find a way to discuss this rather than go on fighting the same fight.

@Eevie: Everyone paying into the commercial insurance system spreads the cost around. The law is forcing coverage for everyone, so the insurance costs go up, and the law forces every adult to contribute to the pool or face a penalty.

Assuming you're ok with turning your attention away from the Constitution which prevents the government from forcing you into a market (just wait for it.. the Supreme Court will agree with me), many people simply can't afford insurance. So, how do you force people to pay for rising insurance costs when they can't afford it?

Especially when the penalty will be cheaper than the insurance. IF you get caught. So, same problem with the uninsured (penalties are not insurance), and employers will continue to drop their portion of the premiums, and now these people who already can't afford insurance must pay a penalty to ..the government. This is a tax on the poor, and an escape hatch for middle class healthy people and employers.

How about not focusing on a commercial industry and going down a road that undermines our freedom of choice and an economy based on capitalism, and focus on health care costs? We shouldn't be continuing to create a world where health insurance is mandatory to get treatment.

You do a lot of complaining but you offer no solutions. Your post seems to suggest that true national health care i.e. government health care is the way to go. I tend to agree with you. Since you think Obamacare is unconstitutional and it is clear that the free market system hasn't worked, the only thing left is government health care that is paid for by taxes that all citizens pay.

JStevens, do you object to universal car insurance? If you drive, you must be insured. You must attend some sort of school until the age of 16. You must have an identity card to vote, take a commercial flight, buy cigarettes. You must have a license to practice any number of professions in this country. You must have a passport to travel. And so on and so forth. How is mandatory car insurance any different than mandatory health insurance? Sure, you can choose to not own a car, just as you can choose to not have health insurance. You can choose to not travel, not to vote or hold a job that requires accreditation, etc. etc. But you pay a price for opting out, and for most people opting out is not even remotely possible.

Why would health insurance cost more if more people pay premiums? It's actually the other way around, if the health care industry is honest. But then, that's one of the big issues, isn't it?

How do you pay for the health insurance? Two ways to go about that: first, you could create competition by offering a reasonable government plan. Or you can regulate the industry, as you would any oligopoly. We do it with utilities and cable companies, why not insurance, big pharma and health care companies? You don't suppose they collude on pricing, do you?

There is no such thing as altruism in capitalism, or even honesty. For proof, I offer the recent banking/Wall Street collapse. That is why we need regulation.

Up until recently I was against any type of "single-payer" or gov't health care, but then I realized that we've HAD gov't healthcare for what, 50 years? What do you think Medicare is? And everyone is "forced" to participate in that, in the sense that we pay a tax. The problem with ObamaCare is, all they have to do is change it to a tax, just like Medicare, and it will be Constitutional. Congress has always had the right to raise taxes. So, tweak the words and it's a healthcare "tax," and you get a deduction if you have your own policy. Now if the Gov't is going to do that, then they should just open up Medicare for all, not just those who qualify. I don't mean "free" Medicare - we certainly don't have the money for THAT! - I mean a Medicare buy-in. Call it a Medicare policy. I've been advocating this for YEARS, people who don't qualify for "free" Medicare can buy a Medicare policy. BOOM! There's your public option! Drop that stupid health exchange, where we can shop for policies we CAN'T AFFORD, and let us buy into the Medicare that we're going to eventually get anyway. Private insurance will still be available to those who can afford it, but the rest of us will have Medicare. Will the quality of care be better? Probably not, but from reading some of these responses it can't be any WORSE than private insurance that increases deductibles and co-pays with no improvement in benefits.

@Eevie, Universal car insurance does not exist. You must carry liability insurance to own a car, so it's part of buying a car. There is a large portion of the population that uses public transportation and does not have to buy insurance. It's their choice. There is no choice with health insurance as part of this mandate. If you're an adult, living in the United States, you must purchase health insurance. There is no choice.

Health insurance will cost more because the law also requires insurance companies to cover people with higher health costs. It's a mathematical certainty that as the pool gets more expensive, the premiums become more expensive. They will spread around the premiums, yes, but if you pay a penalty rather than carry insurance, you're not contributing to the pool.

How is governmental coverage different? Well, because nobody pays based on their health care costs or their choice, they pay as part of the tax system. And we know how well the government uses our tax dollars. Medicare and Medicaid are doing so well after all.

I disagree that there is no thing as altruism or honesty in capitalism. Extremes exist everywhere. Look at the government. They are also in the news, if you care to watch what they've been doing with your tax dollars.

I don't understand why people focus on insurance rather than health costs. Insurance is not health care.

@JStevens, I used the wrong terminology. What I should have said is: every car must be insured, it is required by law. And yes, that IS the same as Everyone must pay for health insurance. If you opt out, you pay a price. No car insurance, no driving. No health insurance, pay penalty.

You are assuming that every uninsured person has health problems. Actually, students and young adults are the largest uninsured group. They are the healthiest age group, obviously. Adding them to the pool would lower the costs to the insurance companies.

I do watch what the government does with my tax dollars--the very many tax dollars I contribute every year. I approve of the foreign development plans, like Feed the Future and the Global Health Initiative. And I wish my money were going toward improving the U.S. infrastructure rather than fighting wars. Especially since the Pentagon seems to be the biggest wastrel of them all.

I agree with you that we really, really need to focus on rising health care costs. Until we know how the prices are calculated, therefore what's causing the problem, we can't fix it.

What's everyone so upset about?

Our republican leadership has stated that "we have the best healthcare system in the world"

Anyone here think this statement is true?

Our republican leadership has stated that "we have the best healthcare system in the world"

Considering our Congressional membership has access to the best healthcare in the world, it's no wonder they think that.

Eevie, you are not correct in your car insurance scenario. As jsstevens pointed out, you are not required to carry car insurance as a condition of being a citizen in the United States. You are only required if you own a car.

Many states had laws on the books to cover students beyond 23 before the ACA was written or passed. Therefore, if a parent had an insured plan, the students would be covered and were in the "pool".

Joe66, those of us living in the REAL world have known about this problem for some time. Mr. Obama campaigned on universal health care and WON. Now why do you suppose that is Joe?

And he promised more access to Canadian prescriptions (LIE) He promised transparity (BIGGER LIE) backroom deals, secret meetings, etc. He is nothing but an agent of wall street. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Transparency. Is that the word you are looking for?

Devastating Health Insurance Cost Increases

We just got a notice that the cost of the healthcare coverage that we provide to our employees is increasing by 33% for those of us with the POS plan and 36% for our employees who selected the cheaper HMO version of our plan. Yet our company has had to hold or reduce our own prices over the last 4 years and even going back into the late 90’s we were lucky if we could even increase our prices 3-4% a year. How do these insurance companies justify these types of increases? Last year was the only year that their increases were even close to within reason and that’s only because they were being challenged. If health insurance premiums increased double or even triple the rate of inflation we’d probably be able to accept it, but the ridiculous annual increase percentages over the past 10-12 years have been devastating to our business and our employees.

Something needs to be done. I didn’t vote for President Obama and I know that the plan that they passed is not ideal, but at least he had the guts to take this issue on. I consider myself an independent voter, but going back to the Reagan days and with the only exception having been Perot, I’ve always voted Republican. So I’m not a lefty, yet I believe that every U.S. Citizen deserves basic healthcare coverage.

I run a business that employs just over 20 people and neither our company nor our employees can afford this anymore. We’re paying 65% and our employees are paying the balance. About 15 years ago we were paying 100%, then about 10 years ago had to cut it to 75% and then a few years back to 65%.

It doesn’t matter who fixes it – Just Fix It.

All this single-minded, left versus right, ideological one dimensional bull has got to go! This is the problem with our country. It shouldn’t be about Democrats or Republicans! It should be about Americans, especially our elected officials, doing the right thing for our country and it’s citizens.

RestoreUSmfg, you are SO RIGHT!!! The Red State/Blue State divide is killing our country, and if we don't stop the simple-minded sniping we're gonna have a civil war on our hands!

@RestoreUSmfg, my compliments for one of the more intelligent posts I have seen here in quite some time. It is obvious to me that as the owner of your company you have spent many sleepless nights wrestling with this Health Care Cost problem, trying to do good by your employees.

I do not have any answers, nor any allegedly profound words of 'wisdom', but the last paragraph of your post is most definitely 'spot on', and I wish those in Washington could read your words, and take heed.

Restore has it. It's the smaller companies that don't have alot of people participating who pay the higer premiums, plus they probably have an aging workforce that get charged higher premiums. That is one thing I like about the mandate, hopefully it would bring more into the pool and more evenly distribute the costs. Its funny, when you are young you don't really use insurance that much, when you get older you might use it more, but you are priced out of the market.

Restore. Good review. The underlying reasons for heath care inflation are due to the vast improvements in heath care. Heart bypasses, cancer treatments, kidney transplants are commonplace and expensive. 40 years ago, pick out a piece of granite, have it etched to your liking, and die. Today, there are solutions and cures for the maladies of mankind. But, they do come with a cost. It is a double edged sword. The analogy should be, what type of insurance do you want? If you want a Cadillac plan, pay the price for the Cadillac, and get it. However, if you want a cheap plan, buy the Yugo. But when you buy the Yugo, don't pitch a fit when it does not measure up to the Caddy. Buy a Ferrari if you can afford it, but it is a personal choice. But do not buy a Yugo and expect it to perform like the Ferrari. It just does not work that way. Your auto insurance has limits. You want the minimum coverage, lowest cost. But if you screw up and total my Lamborghini, you owe me the difference between the $20k your insurance will cover and the $570K to cover the balance. That is the free market. Pay for what you can afford, or better yet, pay for what you cannot afford to lose.

It's caused by a vast improvement in creative billing practices, more like.

Canadian health care has 1.3% overhead and costs $3800 per person per year to cover everyone. American insurance-run health care has 25% overhead and costs $7900 per person per year to leave 38% of Americans without sufficient access to health care to meet their medical needs.

After taxes, a Canadian has 82.6 cents per dollar of gross pay, and those taxes include the cost of health care.

After taxes, a American has 81.8 cents per dollar of gross pay, and then they pay health insurance, deductibles, copays over and above those taxes.

For every Canadian who goes to the US for health care, there are 30 Americans who come to Canada for the health care they are denied in the US because they either don't have insurance or their health care was denied or rationed by insurance company bureaucrats in the US.

Gordon Guyette et al did a study of studies comparing Canadian and American health care:

Studies addressed diverse problems, including cancer, coronary artery disease, chronic medical illnesses and surgical procedures. Of 10 studies that included extensive statistical adjustment and enrolled broad populations, 5 favoured Canada, 2 favoured the United States, and 3 showed equivalent or mixed results. Of 28 studies that failed one of these criteria, 9 favoured Canada, 3 favoured the United States, and 16 showed equivalent or mixed results. Overall, results for lower mortality favoured Canada by 5%.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801918/

“Believe it or not — this was in the ’60s — we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing, and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada,” Palin was quoted as saying by The Canadian Press.

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, who is also a doctor, said the Palin family’s story is not unique [of Americans coming to Canada for health care in preference to American health care].

“Certainly as a family doctor I treated lots of Americans [coming across the border from the U.S. for Canadian health care].”

When she testified before a U.S. Senate committee in September, Bennett told the story of U.S. Vietnam veterans who had to go to Canada for cancer treatment because they couldn’t afford medical care in the country they fought for.

Bennett said Palin should bear in mind the high cost of medical care is a leading cause of bankruptcies in the U.S.

“Criticizing our system isn’t helping her fellow Americans.”

[The Canadian single payer health care system was instituted January 1, 1966, when Sarah Palin was 22 months old]

Torre...Excellent Post! You hit the nail on the head. Corporations are harming the US economy and worker. They are not giving raises to their employees so the few at the top can get super rich. They are cutting worker benefits and shipping jobs overseas every chance they get. Then they pay off a few politicians so they can weasel out of paying taxes. They are robbing this country blind and the public (especially republicans) are too dumb to see it.

Bring back unions, collective bargaining, and levy tarrifs on imports. When unions were strong this country was in much better shape. America first!

You're both right. Since when did it become ok for employers not to pay basic living wages. When someone gives you 40 hours a week of their time, this used to provide a roof over a FAMILY'S head, food, clothing and healthcare for that family. Harder work/education led to a better job and an improvement of life. A line was drawn in the sand that said that if you're an American, and you work, you will have the essentials of life.

It seems now days 2 breadwinner's are needed to rear a family and many must think that the basics are not deserved if you're job is one that you sweat for a living.

We need to get the unions back, and concentrate on America. If it's not made here, it needs to be tarriffed and taxed to the point where it would be better to make it here.

A lot of our problems would be solved if we could cut the income disparity and start paying people a living wage.

Do CEO's really need to make $100 million each year?

Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

Hear hear Restore. Great post.

And I'm glad to see you're proving capitalism is not heartless. The best system in the world, that makes the problems of our country pale in comparison to the people who have to be born into the right family or with the right skin color to make their own ways in the world.

Insurance may be a privilege, but health care isn't. I won't say it is a right - but it isn't just for the privileged.

I disagree. We should provide health care for everyone just because we can.

Health is not a right nor a privilege. It is just a part of life. Some are blessed with better health than others, and some fail to maintain their health because of their own negligence. The wealthy will always have access to better healthcare than the rest of us, and it is yet to be seen whether or not we can provide health care for everyone.

is it a privilege for a 2 year old to get medical care that will save he life?

Yes, corporateshill, it is a privilige. If the 2 yo lives in Alaska and there isn't the life saving care available in the remote regions of the state, do they have a right to be flown to another state for that care?

if it is a privilege for my 2 year old to live, why are the republicons so interested in taking away birth control and abortion rights just to let the baby die 2 years later?

Seems that they/you are not interested in life at all, if it costs money !!!

I disagree. Thirty years ago everyone who worked had pretty good health care from their employers. It was a benefit everyone enjoyed. We know what happened, companies closed shop and located overseas, the middle class wages stayed stagnant, health insurance premiums skyrocketed, and it just kept getting worse year after year. How in the world did it get so broken?

Healthcare is absolutely a right. As evry onthe rmajor industrialized nation, with the exception of the United States, has decided.

If we fail to ensure the health of our citizens, we endanger our ability to work, live, build and maintain infrastructure, and defend our land and people.

We are already far behind the rest of the world on productivity and education.

We are already far behind the rest of the world on productivity and education.

Good points, fielden.

We are further ahead than the rest of the world on greed.

First, no one is taking away birth control. The argument on birth control is that religeous organizations should not be required to pay for something that is against their beliefs. If you believed in the US Constitution, you would agree with that part...you know the 1st Amendment. Birth control still exists but the end user may actually have to pay for it themselves.

Felden, just because goverment supplies something does not make it a right. Would you argue that housing is a right? Afterall, if everyone does not have shelter, their ability to work, etc...are endangered. Therefore, we should supply housing at "no cost" to everyone.

How is health care a right

If you dig your head out of the sand, you'll realize that healthcare is a right, just not constitutionally. Go to any county hospital and you'll see the hordes of uninsured getting "free" healthcare. They aren't turned away, in many cases. It's a ridiculous game of semantics and the taxpayers pay the bills.

Health insurance costs are high, because there are empty hospital beds in over built hospitals in large metro areas. To cover these costs, more health care is billed for, more tests given, to pay for these institutions. Much of the staffs are unionized at these facilities with their wage and benefit costs. Hospitals hire professionals who have large college debts to pay off due to length of education.

The countries which are usually referred to as providing health care for their citizens are in economic difficulty as a nation, or as in the case of Europe, as a group of nations.

So what is needed as I see it, student loan relief for those people in health care and related fields, ( microbiology, chemistry, etc.) if those people work in economic depressed areas. No government subsidies for church mandated health care policies. This is a secular country governed by laws, not religious doctrine.

Limit the number of people a insurance policy payer is paying for. If it takes 500 policy payers, to pay for one premature baby's care, if it takes 501 payers, fire an employee or two at the insurance agency.

No bonus's for Health Insurance Executives. Give them a yearly salary, and if they can't make it on that, fire them and get someone in there that can. No bundling, creative accounting, and investment in other than health care. If you have a healthy nation, you profit, if you have a sick nation you go belly up. Health care insurance money needs to stay in this country. If you want to do business in a foreign country, use their foreign currency there.

No TV sponsoring. No sponsoring sporting events. Limit the number of attorneys on staff to 1 per 100,000 paying insurance customers. If additional legal counsel is required to cover claims, first check into legal alternatives to lower court costs and settlements, secondly remove that cost from the CEO's salary down through the vice president levels salaries.

No office air conditioning, just air quality control for the computers including temperature and humidity. If the CEO's want to cool down they can go down where actual work is done. No memberships in golf and country clubs, yacht clubs, and no memberships on the board of directors of a church.

That should lower health care costs. Student loans will be relieved somewhat, union wages and benefits for health care workers will be aligned with other segments of the working class. Old hospitals can be demolished, multiple tests will diminish, billing practices will be simpler, the cost of maintaining the insurance empire will lower, and opportunity for fraud should diminish. With fraud down, legal costs should diminish somewhat, and by prohibiting the executives of the insurance industry from belonging to golf and country clubs, yacht clubs, and church boards, " good old boy networks"funneling health care money that could go to treatments instead of advertising and restricted social events should benefit those in need of medical treatments.

And as you might guess, there are other health care cost savings ideas as well.

Right on, Uh...no! Who needs food, shelter or transportation, as long as we have health care. You're clearly a compassionate Conservative, as demonstrated by your enlightened POV...NOT!

In my community on the local news this evening, the hospitals are GIVING AWAY a new type of baby blanket which is safer to newborns, lessening their chance of suffocation. A nice safety idea, which few would argue against. Great PR too, to have your baby in a hospital where who knows what you'll be charged for. On the other hand, not in the news, a friend of mine showed off his new back brace for $650 which looks like it was sewn out of canvass in a middle school shop class.

The state of Texas has enough high school football players alone, they could field a team for every college in the US. What's the issue, the new awareness of brain injury and other sports injuries for these players... and the subsequent health care costs, if only in sport medicine rehabilitation. I wouldn't have any idea of how much health costs would diminish, let alone property tax for schools diminish, if just the high school sport of football were trimmed by 25% in the number of eligible participants.

How many injuries sustained in high school athletics lead to expensive rehabilitation and medical care in working age adults? Girls are getting head and neck injuries from bouncing soccer balls on their heads, others blowing out their knees catching softballs, etc.

So when I see a free baby snaggy given away at a hospital to a new mother, it's nice, but it doesn't blind one to the existence of the $40 BandAid.

and let's not forget all of those happy-happy, joy-joy PILL commercials that clearly demonstrate the need for ALL to run to their doctor so they can ride a bike, bake a cake, laugh and smile like all the world is a rose garden.

Insurance plans underwrite the population based on the sick and expected claims from those sick with minimal coverage for the healthy...with some risk factors figured into the rate. They also calculate plan design as well as trends for cost of care increases. It is not as you state - rates based on the healthy to cover the sick.

Bookem, and I'd suggest others attend your annual municipal budget hearings. You know, public input, democracy, all that stuff. Forget the costs of dog catchers and wastewater treatment, and just look at the costs of health care insurance for your municipality.

It's the tax dollar which is paying for that health insurance for the municipal employee.

The next thing which happens is going to be a "comparative study of health insurance costs in the regional municipalities". These are also tax dollar paid health benefits, not just your city. Now you have REGIONAL STATISTICS. The municipal employee union rep can compare his costs, to the neighboring community costs, and argue for a benefit increase IGNORING THAT THESE COSTS ARE NOT PRIVATE SECTOR, but instead tax funded benefits.

The insurance company doesn't sort these regional costs, tax provided vs. private sector out. Nope, everyone get's lumped with what is provided to the public sector employee. So your Healthy vs. Sick analysis don't hold water. It's only valid to compare healthy vs sick within their public employee or non public employee domain.For instance you could compare the health care costs of municipal employees, with public school teachers, and state employees, all of whom get a tax based salary. But foundry workers, farmers, barge operators, etc., aren't getting a tax based income, so compare their healthy vs. sick status, AND THEN COMPARE THOSE SEPARATE POPULATIONS IF YOU CARE TO. Lots of farmers you'll find still work when they're sick.

The trends for "cost care increases" is another term for Executive Bonus.

Hey Nick - do you mind your taxes going to the defense industry??

I had some of the best insurance coverage offered through my defense contractor employer - with the company picking up a huge portion of the annual cost.

How do you think they paid for it??? WHERE do you think they got the money?

Stop banging on the seniors, welfare etc when the the insurance companies are gouging EVERYONE in EVERY WAY.

I think alot of the blame for the high prices goes to the hospitals. I mean does it really cost $500 to give someone an aspirin? All costs need to be reviewed and reined in before healthcare can ever be affordable.

Nick, seniors are insured. Through Medicare. And how many sick people does it take to run up the hospital tab to $4 billion? That's the annual government subsidy to the oil industry. Why aren't you complaining about that?

That's the truth. One of my friends had impatient something or another done, he was in the operating room fifteen nimutes, in the recovery room about 5 and onto another area to get dressed and leave. A three thousand dollar charge for use of the rooms and 65 dollars for self administered medicine, some kind of pain pill for him to take.

They are paying a horrendous rate, especially small businesses who make up the backbone of the American workforce.

Whatever you file on bankruptcy, you will be taxed on the amount of which you did not pay - G.W. Bush.

Torre...Excellent Post! You hit the nail on the head. Corporations are harming the US economy and worker. They are not giving raises to their employees so the few at the top can get super rich. They are cutting worker benefits and shipping jobs overseas every chance they get. Then they pay off a few politicians so they can weasel out of paying taxes. They are robbing this country blind and the public (especially republicans) are too dumb to see it. Bring back unions, collective bargaining, and levy tarrifs on imports. When unions were strong this country was in much better shape. America first!

More like unions are what sucked the country dry. I.e. look at the EU right now.

Union membership is at 11.8% of the labor force. How is a tenth of the working population sucking the country dry, Uh...No?

I forgot, which union was it that forced Apple/Intel/Hp/etc, etc, to go to China??

Of course the vets would not want to give up their gov't run plans. Something is better than nothing. However, ask them how they rate the plan and overall service and they are not real pleased. Many who have VA benefits also have private plans which they use as their first choice/primary healthcare source.

The argument isn't that govt run health care provides poor care, it is that government run health care takes away our right to earn it. You may think that sounds silly, but read Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut and you will understand.

The service my dad got at the VA was top notch. At least just as good as any private hospital, and the workers there were much more caring.

Ask yourselves why every healthcare insurance and pharmaceutical company gave millions to every member of the House and Senate during the healthcare insurance debates. Ever member of the House and Senate netted over $1.6 Million each in campaign payoffs. Don't believe me, just seek your own answers via the Freedom of Information Act. Why is it that healthcare insurance and pharmaceutical companies are not complaining?