Health insurance went up 30.9% this renwall for my company.

[Steve Amrein]

We just got the rate increase for our employee health care and its gone up yet again. Last year 19% the year before that 23% and before that 37% .

Participation is getting smaller as some are going without ins. and some a switch to another private Co. We currently pay half and ever year suck up the increase as well as the employees. This is creating feelings of ill will as the employees only see a smaller paycheck. I am actually hoping that if a few more folks opt out that we will no longer eligible for a group plan and the insurance companies will no longer accept us. I want out of the insurance business. The insurace companies to me seem like the goverenment, they do not increase the value of service and yet still increase cost. I cant wait for nationalized health care.

[Bob Gutermuth]

Lucky you, mine is going up 66% next month. It will get worse when Osama gets national socialized medicine for all of us and the care will be much worse.

[Keith Farmer]

Health insurance for my family was 2500.00 per month! We cancelled this year, worked with our doctor (who we attend church with) in terms of office visit fees, and went with a health savings plan. May not be the best option but 2500.00 per month is just off the charts for a young family!


KF

[Uncle Bill]

Just visited with a vascular surgeon that said HE couldn't hardly afford the liability insurance premiums. Said it was a 5 mill policy.

Who said the shysters can't rule the world? Much like the sheeple voting in the lunatics, thus getting what they deserve, and the rest of us having to live with that, the jurys have made awards that are so ludicrous it defys logic. Most are so quick to 'make the bigshots pay', they forget how it comes back to kick them in the ass.

I can hardly wait until the unions have run themselves out of a job, because until then they will never see how their class envy has caused the majority of the mess they think is purely a management problem.

We all know why management bought into this health insurance scam; the bennies were another union demand. In all this MSP bloviating over the management bonuses, has anyone heard even ONE story about the payments to the union fatcats? The hubris is incredible.

UB

[Bob Gutermuth]

The only union with more brass than the united auto workers is the Soviet Uniion.

[Gerry Clinchy]

Participation is getting smaller as some are going without ins. and some a switch to another private Co. We currently pay half and ever year suck up the increase as well as the employees. This is creating feelings of ill will as the employees only see a smaller paycheck. I am actually hoping that if a few more folks opt out that we will no longer eligible for a group plan and the insurance companies will no longer accept us. I want out of the insurance business. The insurace companies to me seem like the goverenment, they do not increase the value of service and yet still increase cost. I cant wait for nationalized health care.

I'm trying to think this through logically ...

Government provides an "alternative" insurance to the insurance companies now offering this product. The government plan is cheaper. People choose the government plan over the private plans. The private insurors are not able to compete, and close up.

With Medicare, as the costs have exceeded expectations, what was supposed to be free, could not remain free. Medicare recipients had to chip in for their health insurance. Each year the cost increases. The amount is withheld from the Social Security check. (and, of course, they already had been contributing to Medicare through their paychecks during their employment). Since the government plan does have some flaws, the seniors often get "Medi-Gap" coverage, to cover some of the things that Medicare does not cover. Will premiums for that coverage go up, if health insurance providers no longer have their other products for younger people? Those other products help spread the "risk" for insuring elderly (who are more likely to get sick) among the younger people (less likely to get sick).

So ... if we get nationalized health care for everyone, does our contribution then get withheld from paychecks, just like SS and income taxes? Does Medicare simply get merged into any new nationalized health care program?

Okay ... we get this worked out ... but with everyone, including those illegal aliens, getting the benefit of this nationalized health care (BTW, do countries like UK and Canada have the size of the illegal alient problem that the US has?), seems like now more people will be seeking out health care that they might have not sought previously?

How do we really make a significant change in the cost of hospitalization? If it costs $X per day to cover the costs of a hospital stay (not counting profit), how do you cut that down?

We can cut down what doctors are allowed to charge. But we'd better put some tort limits on suing doctors, because who will choose to be a doctor if their income is marginal after paying liability insurance. Every time legislation for tort limits in Pennsylvania come up, the trial lawyers exert every pressure to keep such laws from being enacted.

Okay, the government decides what doctors can charge for their services. But a hospital needs electricity, heat, and a lot of other workers to keep it going. Sooner or later, you're going to have to cut the cost of labor like nurses, xray technicians, housekeeping workers, maintenance workers, etc. Somebody is always going to be at the bottom of the totem pole. Are any of those workers, by any chance, unionized? Oops ...

We know that the net result of national health care has been to "ration" health care services. Once you reach a certain age, it is simply not cost-effective to provide certain health care services. Even in our present system, when it comes to transplant organs, the recipients are ranked for factors to determine which of two or more "matching" recipients would be the more "viable" recipient. If you're 70 years old, unless you're a POTUS or a SCOTUS, you'd probably lose out to the 20-yr old Olympic hopeful.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that before we decide that national health care is the best solution to this problem, we need to think through the repercussions of what is likely an irrevocable change on such a mass scale.

We really have to address the issue of liability insurance for doctors and hospitals. The only people who seem to really "make out" on liability torts are the attorneys. Awards for true negligence in medical matters should be "reasonable". And if the doctor is a real screw-up, he shouldn't be allowed to practice any longer. No court award to a damaged patient is worth spit, if the dr. gets to go do it all over again to someone else.

Our present system might not be so costly if we fixed some of the "auxilliary" problems that we often overlook when talking about the cost of healthcare.

[ErinsEdge]

But we'd better put some tort limits on suing doctors, because who will choose to be a doctor if their income is marginal after paying liability insurance. Every time legislation for tort limits in Pennsylvania come up, the trial lawyers exert every pressure to keep such laws from being enacted.....We really have to address the issue of liability insurance for doctors and hospitals. The only people who seem to really "make out" on liability torts are the attorneys. Awards for true negligence in medical matters should be "reasonable". And if the doctor is a real screw-up, he shouldn't be allowed to practice any longer.

I completely agree. We are controlled by insurance fees and the lawyers, and national insurance will happen before the liability cap.

[Bob Gutermuth]

One of my former training partners is a physician. According to him, the group that sues the most is medicade patients, who treat malpractice as a lottery. Crack addicted mothers who sue for problems with their drug affected babies is an example. If the nation doesn't figure a way to limit awards to some alleged malpractice victims then the system will break. Its one thing when the incompetent doctor takes off the wrong leg for example and another when a crack addict has a messed up child. One is the doctors fault the other isn't.

[HuntsmanTollers]

Creative options to reduce costs and increase profitability will emerge. Some things people take for granted will no longer be covered. For example, hospital bed charges will be for just occupying the bed, just like a hotel. Food menus will be available but billed separately or must be provided by family. Family members could be expected to provide daily living activities (bathing, changing clothes, etc) similar to hospitals in other developed countries require, Japan for example. After all quality of care doesn't mean as much as reducing costs right?

[Thomas D]

Just dealt with BCBS today. Sent them an e-mail question regarding the $1000 per year preventive care part of my policy. Asked if standard blood panel, PSA, and reating EKG were covered. Also, what CPT codes should be used for preventive treatment. A rather simple question I thought.

"Lakisha" wrote me back to say that she could not tell me, as that would be a conflict of interest!

That got me pouring thru the book and found a part of the policy that stated all 3 of those items were covered.

Maybe it can be but I don't see how government run health care can be any worse.

Tomorrow I will spend several hours on the phone getting the proper answer.