Family Health Articles » health plans

What is in the pipeline for reform of health care?

admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:27:31 +0000

The new Administration is taking over facing an unprecedented economic crisis. The country is already deep in debt and proposes to spend billions more to help prevent a long-lasting recession. Looking overseas, the war in Iraq still has eighteen months to run and there is no end to the war in Afghanistan in sight. So some would argue this is not a good time to start proposing major changes to the health care system. The last time this was tried under the Clinton Administration, the economy was doing well and the momentum for change was lost. Trying it again now is inviting a battle over the legislation when the country would be better served if its leader was focussed on the economic problems. Well, the nay-sayers would be wrong. This is the right time to talk about it again.

According to the latest figures, it is estimated that out of a population of about 305 million, some 45 million people in the US do not have health care cover. They are entirely dependent on the emergency rooms and the public hospital system subsidized by local, state and federal bodies. Why are so many people without insurance? The answer is, as everyone is all too painfully aware, that the premiums have been rising faster than inflation for the last five years and more. Now that unemployment is rising at a fast rate, more people will be unable to afford the instalment payments. The Administration’s own estimate is that someone is driven into bankruptcy every thirty seconds. If fewer people pay their health plan premiums, the premiums must rise for everyone else. Treatments remain expensive and have to be paid for. If the hospitals cannot collect any money from their uninsured patients, the costs for all the insured must rise. Businesses are now passing on these increased costs to the members of their health plans. In effect, this is a pay cut. That is why this Administration wants to see a more fair system with affordable care and cover for everyone.

This means a halfway house. The current Administration would probably prefer to move to a single payer system of health insurance immediately, but there is too much invested in the current private insurance market. So the government is proposing a state-based system for all those without private insurance, allowing those with insurance policies to change over if they wish. Health care coverage for children is already here. The budget has $634 billion earmarked for preventative medicine and the provision of more affordable services. This is going to put a lot of pressure on private health insurance companies to respond with their own cost-cutting measures. Failure to stay competitive with a growing efficiency in public provision could lead down the slippery slope into a single payer system. That this is the standard model in most of the rest of the world, does not make it right for the US. Or does it? We can only wait and see what happens.

Just what resolutions did you make this New Year past?

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:45:49 +0000

Christmas is all about the year just past. You look around, gather in your family and friends, and celebrate the strength of your friendships by giving and receiving presents. Then comes New Year and, in a gesture to taking some responsibility for what happens in the next twelve months, people traditionally make resolutions. Most commonly, these are to diet and exercise to lose weight and, if you have not already done so, to quit smoking. For the majority, these best intentions last all of twenty-four hours before being forgotten. Yet, this year, there are good reasons for taking New Year’s resolutions a little more seriously. As you will have noticed, there’s a recession. People are losing their jobs and homes. Debts are being caught up in credit crunching and the cost of health care is going ballistic. So, losing weight is good because, if you shed 10% of your body weight, this reduces the chances of you getting type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Why should this matter? Have you seen the cost of the medications you would need to keep reasonably healthy if you are diagnosed with diabetes or your heart starts giving you trouble? It’s better to stay healthy by losing weight and save your bank account from being hit with co-payments. And, if you are still smoking, quitting now can reduce the risk of cancers later in life. Fear of pain should encourage you to quit now.

But since we are talking about your health, there are other things to consider. Since jobs are at risk, now is the time to think about what would happen to your health plans if unemployment comes. Could you afford to pay for the COBRA cover? The reason for asking is that a recent survey found most families could not. So, if you cannot start a savings plan to provide enough cash, what would you do? Well, now is the time to do some research. There are a number of private medical plans available. Spending time online can identify some good cover at affordable prices. One of the starting points is the company currently supplying auto or home insurance. If you bundle policies together, you can get reasonable discounts for personalized solutions. You should also talk with local agents. Although they are driven by the commission, you can often get good ideas about how to save money with higher deductibles and more limited coverage. Then it’s for you to decide, making plans with a clear head now rather than when under pressure when the job is lost.

Health insurance is not something you should leave to the last minute. Planning now saves time and money later on. Although insurance companies can change the detail of their policies, what you research and agree now will stand up for months to come. be recession-proof, stay ahead of the game and keep your family safe. Indeed, health insurance should be the one New Year’s resolution you make and keep the longest.

More about health insurance

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:05:42 +0000

The general statistics show that health insurance premiums have been rising faster than inflation in the business sector while the extent of the cover is being more narrowly defined. It is the old “less for more” syndrome. Insurance companies are not unjustified in raising their premiums. They can point to the rising costs of drugs and medical devices, and the increasing charges levied by hospitals, clinics and professional health care providers. Since their costs are rising and their investors expect a dividend, premiums must rise. Worse, the health of the nation is deteriorating. With an epidemic of obesity, the health services are buckling under the resulting waves of cases with high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Unless there is government intervention to fund the national expansion of health care, the costs for all will rise. This gives business owners and managers a serious problem as the recession gathers pace and revenues fall. How does a business reduce costs without sacrificing the employees’ goodwill? Under normal circumstances, it would trade-off between the cost of the health plan and other benefits. But in this economic situation, it is likely that pay and benefits must be reduced if the business is to survive with full employment. Among small businesses, the number of employers providing health plans has dropped 10% in the last three years. Alternatively, a number of nonessential employees will have to leave to pay for continuing benefits for the survivors – painful downsizing. One compromise tactic is to play the yearly “shuffle”. As an incentive to transfer business, insurance companies often offer a first year discount. So some small businesses look to transfer their health plan to a new carrier every year. This is a real administrative headache and inconvenient for all the employees to switch doctors, but it does save money. The great hope was that businesses would pool their insurance and negotiate their cover as a group. Insurance companies have mostly won the war against this both as an initiative of business associations and at state level. California, for example, attempted to combine features of the individual and group market. This was not a great success. This leaves business with the choices of increasing the deductibles or making the co-payments or paying the expenses fo the employees. These are slightly risky options because, unless limits are written into the commitment, a serious accident involving one employee or one long-term illness can swamp the budget. However, this is a balancing of cause and effect. In any group plan, major costs incurred by one can also drive up the premium for everyone in the plan. Insurance helps to keep businesses afloat. Small business insurance is particularly important because, until there are cash reserves to fall back on, even a small liability can be devastating. Health insurance is a valuable part of the remuneration package in businesses of all size. It helps maintain staff morale and gives a business the best chance of keeping key personnel healthy. But, equally, business insurance premiums must remain affordable. Hence, the interest of business associations and states in group schemes. business insurance

Health insurance from the employer’s point of view

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:20:50 +0000

There has been a sad trend since the turn of this century. Health insurance costs have been rising so fast that even large sections of the middle class now find it a struggle, if not impossible, to pay the premiums demanded by the insurers for private plans. The fact is that, although in the last one or two years, there have been some increases in average take-home pay, these increases have not kept pace with inflation. People today are more poor than they were ten years ago. For a time, people compensated by using their credit cards and borrowing against the positive housing equity on their homes. With the bursting of the housing bubble and the credit crunch, people must now confront the size of the debt they carry. Articles like this are not supposed to feel sorry for employers. They are the ones who take our work, pay us as little possible and buy big houses to live in. Sometimes, we only put up with this exploitation because of the health plans some offer as part of the compensation package. But they have also been feeling the strain.

The national statistics show that, in the period 2000-2007, there was an average 80% increase in the premiums payable by employers for the health plan offered to their employees. As a cost, this has increased five times faster than the cost of wages and salaries. Because consumers have come to expect that prices will not rise, it has not been possible to pass these increased costs on in the wholesale and retail prices. The result has been a reduction in the profits earned by the employers. Hence, wages have not risen fast enough to keep pace with inflation.

This has real significance for the future health of the nation. Slightly more than 30% of the workforce is less than 30 years old and the majority of them are not insured. This because more employers have given up the unequal struggle to keep up a health plan for new employees, and more younger people who still have their health do not see it as a priority to use more and more of their take-home pay to fund private health insurance. They feel they are paying against the risk of sickness that might never come. This has an unfortunate knock-on effect. Health insurance distributes the risk so that the fit and health subsidize those who fall sick. If too many of the healthy refuse cover, the cost must be born by the older population more likely to make claims. This forces the premiums to rise. It would be better if everyone had a policy because this spreads the costs and keeps everyone’s payments low. You can make a start by using sites like this to find the cheapest possible policy, but nothing will change unless government policy changes.