Health Care Premiums Could Reach $23,341 By 2020

[Hissyspit]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/12/03/health-care-premiums-could-reach-23342-by-2020

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2010/Dec/State-Trends-Premiums-and-Deductibles.aspx

Health Care Premiums Could Reach $23,342 by 2020

By: Jon Walker Friday December 3, 2010 5:45 am

The cost crisis in our health care system simply can’t be overstated. The rapid growth in cost is the driving force behind our projected long-term public debt and the growth in private health insurance premiums threaten to cripple private industry. The Commonwealth Fund is out with a new study showing just how quickly the situation is worsening.

National surveys have found that family premiums for employer-sponsored health coverages increased 52 percent from 2003 to 2009, while median family income rose 13 percent. Such a rapid increase in the cost of employer-sponsored health benefits has forced difficult choices at workplaces across the country. Studies indicate that slower growth in wages and lower savings for retirement (worker and employer contributions) have been part of the trade-off to preserve health benefits. Despite such trade-offs, the monthly cost of premiums paid by workers and their families is up, consuming an ever-greater share of any wage increases they might receive.

Health care premiums have grown roughly four times faster than income. This simply isn’t sustainable without crushing government and private budgets. And if the problem is not truly dealt with, that is what will happen:

As of 2009, the average premium was $13,027 a year for family coverage for private sector employers, ranging from $11,000 to over $14,000 across states. If insurance premiums for employer-sponsored health plans in each state continued to grow at the same average annual rate seen from 2003 to 2009, the average premium for family coverage would rise to $23,342 by 2020—an increase of 79 percent.

The study looked at what would happen if the new health care reform law reduced the annual projected premium growth rate by one percentage point or 1.5 percentage points. In the former, average premiums would reach only $21,019 in 2020, and in the later they would reach only $19,938.

Even with optimistic projections, the new health care law would still see premiums growing faster than income, and we’d still have by far the most costly health care on earth. This means, even assuming health care reform works well, which I highly doubt, the ever-growing cost of our health care premiums will force it to remain a critical political issue for years. It has not be fully dealt with.

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[Better Believe It]

1. And those policies would be subject to taxation under the Health Insurance Industry law.

[dflprincess]

2. Thank God it passed!

:sarcasm:

[pa28]

22. Awww look. Those nice Greeks left us a giant wooden horse.

Let's bring it inside.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. USA! USA! USA!

:puke:

[potpolpilot]

33. Just received, as a small business owner, my new premium, up 45%

beginning 01-01-2011. I'm considering giving my health insurance company the deed to my house and offering my family as indentured servants for health coverage.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. screwed. We are so screwed.

[ThomCat]

4. For a family plan NOW if anyone in your family has a disability

If you absolutely don't want to be bankrupted by getting stuck with a percentage of medical bills, you need a policy that covers 100% of costs for covered procedures and visits, and you need low co-pays.

Let's even ignore the annual deductible entirely and assume that you can afford the once/year expense no matter what it is. Even if that isn't a reasonable assumption. But let's just assume that anyway to be optimistic.

You're still already looking at a policy that can cost your family several Thousand dollars per month Today if someone in your family has a disability. That is assuming the insurance company is even willing to write you a policy at all. Most insurance companies won't, or they will insist that everything related to the one person's disability won't be covered by the policy.

No family could accept any policy that essentially abandons the one person that needs that policy most. First of all, that would automatically be bankrupting the family with medical bills, or else it would be condemning the person with the disability to life without care. Not acceptable.

So they have to find an insurance policy that covers all of them, including the person with the disability, including disability related issues and expenses. That is going to be thousands of dollars per month!

Could your family afford that today?

I don't think it is going to take until 2020 to see premium costs reaching $23k. I'm sure we'll see some unfortunate families seeing that number sooner. :(

[Mimosa]

38. I do not understand why the dems left us victims to the rapacious health insurers

It didn't HAVE to be like this!

[jefferson_dem]

5. FireDogLake.

:rofl:

Do you have a credible source?

[Dragonfli]

7. I find it far more credible than most outlets, you disagree with all sources not whitehouse.gov

A source that often leaves me baffled with contradictions I might add.

You should probably ignore all information not to your liking, it is easier to pretend all is peachy that way and would help get you out of the way when adults talk about boring stuff like policy and politics.

You would be happier, people that don't want to hide heads in sand would be happier, everyone would be happier.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hissyspit]

13. Jon Walker has done brilliant work on health reform.

[Lorien]

19. It's more credible than what's on your sig line. nt

[Kall]

24. All the "pragmatists" laughed at FDL when they said the health care bill was a disaster

And said that "firebaggers" were crazy for thinking that the awful mess of a bill needed to be opposed. Passing the Senate health care bill would save the Democratic House, the Very Serious People said, and once it was passed, public opinion was going to shoot up for Democrats. Are you still laughing at FDL?

Oh right, the Democrats will fix it later. How's that going for NAFTA?

[Cerridwen]

35. Did you miss the citation and link to The Commonwealth Fund?

From their "About Us" page; Board of Directors:

James R. Tallon, Jr., Chairman
Mr. Tallon, president of the United Hospital Fund of New York, is recognized nationally for his leadership in health care policy.

Cristine Russell, Vice Chairman
Ms. Russell is an award-winning reporter who has covered science, medicine, and health for three decades.

William R. Brody, M.D.
Dr. Brody is president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Benjamin K. Chu, M.D.
Dr. Chu is regional president, Southern California, with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospital.

Karen Davis
Ms. Davis is president of The Commonwealth Fund. Prior to joining the Fund in 1992, she was professor of economics and chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Michael V. Drake, M.D.
Dr. Drake is chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, where he oversees the comprehensive campus and the academic medical center.

Samuel C. Fleming
Mr. Fleming is managing director of Briland LLC.

Glenn M. Hackbarth, J.D.
Mr. Hackbarth, an independent consultant, is the chairman of Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Harvard Medical, Salk Institute, Kaiser Foundation, Johns Hopkins...you know, the usual mob of M.D.s and other miscreants.

[NorthCarolina]

43. FDL is a very credible source for Liberals/Progressives. I am assuming

that is precisely why you seek to defame it.

[woo me with science]

6. Words cannot express my rage. nt

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

10. That doesn't matter as long as we have Obamacare.

[ProSense]

11. Commonwealth Fund

link in the OP:

State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003–2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits

Overview
Rapidly rising health insurance costs have strained U.S. families and employers in recent years. This issue brief examines data for all states on changes in private employer premiums and deductibles for 2003 and 2009. The analysis finds that premiums for businesses and their employees increased 41 percent across states from 2003 to 2009, while per-person deductibles jumped 77 percent in large as well as small firms. If these trends continue at the rate prior to enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the average premium for family coverage will rise 79 percent by 2020, to more than $23,000. The authors describe how health reform offers the potential to reduce insurance cost growth while improving value and protection. If reforms succeed in slowing premium growth by 1 percentage point annually in all states, by 2020 employers and families together will save $2,323 annually for family coverage, compared with projected trends.

<...>

[MisterP]

12. bbbbut an anti-HCR Teabagger wants to know how soon his government healthcare will kick in!

that automatically means that the HCR will be immediately rewritten to give us all government healthcare! the AFSCME told me so!

[NorthCarolina]

47. Yeah, wasn't that something.

:banghead:

[Swamp Rat]

14. k&r

[Greyhound]

15. Well at least now we can be assured that we will never have to worry

about the terrifying possibility that insurance companies will ever become unprofitable. We take comfort in the fact that whenever we find ourselves sick or injured we will always have the friendly face of an insurance executive seeking to raise his bonus by denying us care.

A truly historic achievement.

[Recursion]

16. Actually we do

Even at the rate they're increasing, the premiums aren't keeping up with the increase in delivery costs.

[Greyhound]

17. And no television show or motion picture has ever turned a profit. n/t

[Recursion]

18. There's some of that, sure

But in many states (and soon, nationwide) insurance companies that increase premiums have to demonstrate an actuarial necessity to do so, and they are. Even Medicare's premiums for people without enough quarters of deducted employment go up ever year.

[howmad1]

31. Ever hear about a double set of books?

[Lorien]

20. If trends conntinue, 23k a year will be seen as a "middle class income" by then

imagine: one's entire income going to insurance which can still deny you life saving treatments. And we're worried about taxes?

[Safetykitten]

21. That's all? I bet it is higher by thousands by that time.

[jtuck004]

23. 30 million unemployed or underemployed can't pay it anyway........ n/t

[ramapo]

26. No surprise

There is little to prevent insurance companies from continuing to increase premiums. Certainly the HCRA does not do much. Competition decreases every year as the big become bigger. Take a look at premiums for individual (non-group) family coverage in New Jersey. It is already in excess of $20,000 a year and rising monthly.

HCRA does nothing to help the majority of people.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. All that profit and insurers will STILL give to the GOP in 2012.

Ungrateful greedy bastards. Bite the hand that feeds them and then demand more.

That is why you can not make deals with dirty vampire capitalists who expect to make money from doing nothing.

[Mimosa]

39. ^ "That is why you can not make deals with dirty vampire capitalists" ^ McCamy said.

The health insurance reps I've spoken with make True Blood vampires look like Irish humanitarian aide workers. ;)

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Keep in mind it costs less than $3000 per person for health care in other countries

like Canada and France. That is $3k total for all the health care. So, if the insurers expect to make that much then they are aiming for 100% profit margins. I.e one out of every two dollars spent on health care will go to an insurance CEO for doing absolutely nothing.

[Swampguana]

30. I'm moving back to canada

[defendandprotect]

32. Heath Care is a human right... how much further into evil is this country going ....???

And what about those losing unemployment benefits --

how do they keep paying for COBRA??

They can't -- which means 2 million more now will be without health care!!!

Entirely without health care!!

[Flatulo]

34. I'm spending a tad over $20k today.

At an annual rate of increase of 15%, this will be $23k next year, $26.5k in '12, and so on. It's already nearly 1/2 my net pay.

[Mimosa]

40. Is that your 'Romneycare', Flatulo?

That figure would be unaffordable for most people.

[Flatulo]

48. Yes, and this is a gold plan, but they've still

rejected about half my claims.

[Uben]

41. I'm right there with ya!

$1875/mo, $22.5K/yr, for a $5K deductible and 50% of the next $10k. It's already here for a lot of us! Pray you don't get cancer cuz if you do, this is what you will be paying, if you are lucky enough to even get insurance!

[unapatriciated]

36. too late to Rec so will give a kick for truth.

Many of us who have lived the reality of Sicko when dealing with for profit health insurers knew this bill did nothing to insure health care.
It had no real controls or penalties on the Insurance Industry regarding bad faith claim denials or raising premiums for those with pre-existing conditions.
I have said it before and I will say it again. California enacted strict laws in the early 90's without any real penalties and the Insurance Industry still made obscene profits while the sick faced medical bankruptcy and inadequate medical care.
It took years for california to sue the top insurers who constantly ignored the law regarding denials of care, they settled for a fraction of what it would have cost them to provide that care. The Health care Insurance Industry knows that going in and will continue to make billions in profit without providing actual health care.

[Mimosa]

37. $13,000 a year is about what my partner pay for BC/BC 70/30 $10,000 annual deductible policies

Why so much? We're both over 56. Self-employed and we have pre-existing conditions. We tried to get coverage with Aetna 8 weeks ago but were turned down. Have got the letter.

Question:

If a person is diagnosed with a cancer, can the insurance start raising one's rate because of it?

[NorthCarolina]

45. We are in much the same boat

This year insurance costs for two individual policies finally exceeded our financial means. We have now joined the ranks of the uninsured.

[chimpymustgo]

42. Great OP. Great thread. KICK!!!

[NorthCarolina]

44. My partner and I finally had to let our health insurance lapse this month.

It was no longer financially feasible for us to maintain insurance with the latest increase. We had naively been holding hope that there would be no increase this year, but of course that was not to be. Since we are a gay couple, the fact that we have been together 10 years means nothing beyond the doors of our home, and so we were not eligible for a family plan that could have eeked out a bit of savings for us. Rather, we had no option other than to purchase two individual policies. If the health insurance reform under Obamacare helped some and they are now able to enjoy the peace of mind that having some measure of security can bring, then we are happy for them. For us though, it is no longer a financial reality. We probably could have insured one of us, at least for a while, but how do you choose which one of us we would insure, and which one would go without. We share the good with the bad equally, we will both go without and simply hope for continued good health. Being currently on medication for mild hypertension, and no longer with access to prescription service, we hope to find an online source that does not require a prescription to enable us to at least continue with our meds. I know we're far from unique in our situation, and I think that is the statistic that stings the most.

[Mimosa]

46. K&R. n/t