Health Care Premiums Jump 11.2 Percent...($10,000/yr/family)

[RedEarth]

NEW YORK - Health care costs continued to surge this year as family premiums in employer-sponsored plans jumped 11.2 percent, the fourth year of double-digit growth, according to a new study.



The cumulative effect of rising health care costs is taking a toll on workers: There are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were in 2001, according to the survey of 3,017 companies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.


This year, 63 percent of firms offered health benefits to workers, down from 68 percent in 2001. The change is primarily driven by a decrease in the number of small firms, those with 3 to 199 workers, that offer coverage.


The average premium for a family of four grew to $9,950 annually. The family premium for a preferred provider organization, the most common type of insurance, hit $10,217 — the first time it broke the $10,000 barrier. PPOs are plans that provide members with a network of discounted providers that charge a copayment but also allows for the opportunity of using other doctors and hospitals.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_re_us/health_care_costs

[cthrumatrix]

1. corporation would have it no other way .... it's called screw america

and shrub supported this with the medicare reform bill

[LiberalCat]

2. I don't have health insurance.

Why should I feel sorry for those who do?

[Doctor Smith]

4. I don't know. Should they feel sorry for you

when you show up at an emergency room and request treatment subsidized by their premiums?

[skippythwndrdog]

6. Poor me.

Just because I don't have it, no one else should either.

Sentiments such as that belong over at freeper republic.

I understand your position. I've been there. I was without health insurance for several years. Luckily, I had no major expenses.

There's nothing preventing you from doing what it takes to get coverage. My bank offers a fairly good basic plan for me for about $150.00 per month - and I'm nearly 50. The premiums are far lower for younger folks.

[Mel]

7. maybe this?

health care should be considered a human right? It's a disgrace as Rich as this country is and we don't have it and in the end if we the people of the USA don't start demanding such we will all sink on this one.
We all won't sink at the same rate but eventually we will get our turn!

I have had insurance and I haven't I can never forget what it feels like not to have it and I can never say to hell with the people who don't or for people who struggle to keep coverage. More people joining you in the not having health insurance isn't any better than you not having it.

Is it going to have to come to the point where people are dying on the steps of hospitals and only the rich getting care before Americans raise hell enough to fix the mess that we are in?

[hatrack]

10. Because we pay when you show up in emergency with a compound fracture

So enjoy the free ride, and be sure to preserve that distinctively puffy self-righteousness you display in your post.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. It isn't that easy and you know it.

These guys are obliged to treat, however they will come after you for the bill no matter what, they don't just "write it off". Medical bills are a major reason for bankruptcy. I am surprised that you are buying into a "welfare cheat" legend.

[hatrack]

14. Not the welfare cheat legend in action

It's that hospitals and doctors and clinics raise their fees on everyone else and on everything from sutures to slipcovers to drugs to spineboards in order to try and cover the costs of indigent medical care.

Sure, they may "come after" you, but that still won't suddenly make you solvent, and it doesn't mean they're going to get their money. And if that money doesn't come from uninsured and/or indigent patients, it's going to come from someone else - namely everyone else.

[The_Casual_Observer]

15. This is BS , " indigents" seek / are directed to

care at county facilities or state facilities, zoos that you probably wouldn't even want to go near.

Your argument simply has no merit,no basis in fact and is actually quite callous and ugly.

[hatrack]

17. You are both wrong and rude - read and learn

Back in the fall of 1992, I was diagnosed with bilateral retinal detachment. The second thing I said after sitting down (the first being "Oh shit!") was "I don't have any insurance."

Strangely enough, the doctor did not palm me off on some charity ward or free clinic. Instead, he scheduled me for the following Monday for surgery on my left eye, and for the following Tuesday for my right eye.

Did I pay off my bills? You bet your ass I did. A total of 90 minutes on the table came to a little over $13,000, and it took me over three years and a new job to do it. Under the circumstances, I was happy to, since the alternative was blindness.

Now, given that this doctor was willing to carry a five-figure expense for my operation for over three years, do you think that maybe, just maybe, some of that cost was reflected in his billings to insurance companies and patients with coverage? Maybe?

Incidentally, the facility where I went for surgery was state-of-the-art, new, squeaky-clean and efficiently run. I had no problem not only going near it, but going in it and getting my eyes done there to boot. :eyes:

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. Your example proves nothing

You paid, you were not indigent. They expect that you will have to pay it back over time and you paid it back.

Yep, I am one rude SOB!


BTW, the original poster never said they were planning to stiff anybody, they just might be pissed that they would be facing the same kind of thing you had to do. So, who is the rude one anyway?

[hatrack]

19. Oh, yeah, I was just rolling in dough back then

After all, if phrases like "full-time student" and "waiter" don't shout "prosperity", then gee, Mildred, I don't know what would.

My total income for 1992 was about $8,000 and no, I wasn't living at home.

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. Most colleges offer insurance or health care plans

either included in the tuition or as a small fee for full time students.

You obviously have no concept of what it means to be "indigent"

[hatrack]

21. They did, and I couldn't afford it

I am familiar with "poor", though not with indigent, and I'm happy to admit that my "poor" was not even in the same league as Mississippi poor, or Soweto poor or Darfur poor.

Sorry that I wasn't poverty-stricken enough for you, or that I wasn't missing a few limbs at the time. Maybe I can get some traumatic amputations done this afternoon - perhaps by stepping in front of a truck. That way, maybe I won't appear too "callous" in the future.

[RedEarth]

11. Interesting attitude....how do you feel about those with ins. paying for

your heatlth care...or do you care?

[LiberalCat]

22. Since I can't find a job with health insurance in *bush's ecomony

I'm somehow a leech? Get real.

I work 50-60 hours a week at two low-paying jobs, even though I have two college degrees. I am older with a pre-existing condition. I would love to be able to pay a portion of health insurance premiums through an employer. And, by the way, I pay for my health care out of my pocket.

So, take your self-righteousness and get thee over to the repuke party.

[lovuian]

3. This can't keep going We Need Socialized Medicine

:bounce:

[ramapo]

5. Bush ignores this tax on business

Our premium for family coverage was up nearly 13% to about $14K/yr. This is from less than $10K in 2000 for better coverage. This has been a hugh increase to mostly absorb although we've had to pass some on to our employees.

The scary thing is if I tried to get similiar coverage on my own it would cost something like $25K/yr!

[progressivebydesign]

8. We have crappy coverage for o3 ver 500 a month..

.. when we used to have DECENT coverage for around 300 for 4 people. But.. it's more important to voters that Kerry is a "flip-flopper", right? What a bunch of fucking idiots out there...

[Yavin4]

9. We Won't Get National Healthcare Because Neither Party Supports It

It's simple. We should have National Health insurance and cover everyone. It has two huge benefits to the economy: (1) Lowers costs on ALL Americans, thereby increasing their purchasing power and (2) Lowers the cost of hiring Americans. We're losing jobs because hiring American workers is too expensive.

[RedEarth]

12. I agree...if ins. premiums keep rising @ 11%/yr. they will double in 7 yrs

...an avg. of $10,000/yr. now, doubling to $20,000/yr. in 7 years...Something has to give, otherwise the cost health care will bankrupt our country.

[moondust]

16. Bush has done nothing

that I know of to try to contain this and deserves to be hammered hard for it.