Employers see health insurance costs jump 9%

[titaniumsalute]

Source: MSNBC

Employers’ spending on health coverage for workers spiked abruptly this year, with the average cost of a family plan rising by 9 percent, triple the growth seen in 2010.

Family plan premiums hit $15,073 on average, while coverage for single employees grew 8 percent to $5,429, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. (KHN is an editorially-independent program of the foundation.)



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44686762/ns/business-personal_finance/

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How the FUCK is this not a major campaign issue? The Repukes will absolutely freak out if a dime of taxes are raised on the almighty small business owner...but they won't do a GODDAMN thing regarding the government getting involved to lower these HUGE costs of healthcare. This is fucking ridiculous.

[Donnachaidh]

1. Wanna take bets on how high it'll jump once the mandate kicks in? n/t

[jannyk]

2. +1

[Lorien]

10. +2

legalized extortion.

[Nay]

16. Indeed. nt

[area51]

19. +1

Mandates are GingrichCare. WTF is this "democratic" president and congress doing in pushing a republican agenda?

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year. This is not only a moral issue, but a national security issue that we're so vulnerable given that our health care delivery system is so fragmented and dysfunctional.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

We don't need the GingrichCare of mandated, unregulated, for-profit insurance that is still too expensive, only pays parts of medical bills, denies claims, bankrupts and kills people.

Republinazi '93 plan:

"Subtitle F: Universal Coverage - Requires each citizen or lawful permanent resident to be covered under a qualified health plan or equivalent health care program by January 1, 2005."

"We will never have real reform until people's health stops being treated as a financial opportunity for corporations."

"Employer-based health insurance has always been a bad idea. Your life should not depend on who you work for." -- T. McKeon

"Any proposal that sticks with our current dependence on for-profit private insurers ... will not be sustainable. And the new law will not get us to universal coverage ...." -- T.R. Reid, The Healing of America

"Despite the present hyperbole by its supporters, this latest effort will end up as just another failed reform effort littering the landscape of the last century." --John Geyman, M.D., Hijacked! The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform

[dkf]

3. What is our argument? Our plan doesn't do bupkis?

[truedelphi]

4. Oh, if only we had had a Democratic Majority in Congress and a

Democratic President in 2009 - then we could have gotten the nation the Universal Single Payer HC that a young man named Barack Obama often praised.

He stated during his run for the Illinois Senate seat in 2004 that USPHC was the nation's most logical and best solution to the Health Care situation.

He also said we'd need Dem majorities in Congress, and a Democrat in the White House for it to happen.

[CBHagman]

5. I'm actually surprised it's that low.

For years now I've seen the most troubling figures bandied about, and of course encountered them myself. At one point in the early 2000s, employees at the company where I work were looking at a doubling of the cost for monthly premiums. At that we changed to another insurer.

[Indydem]

6. This is a major campaign issue.

Pukes WILL blame the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

[msongs]

7. meanwhile inflation rate = 2%. price increase must = profits going up nt

[SoapBox]

8. Multi million dollar bonuses for the Rick "Medicare FRAUD" Scott types that run these companies?

...bilking the American citizens.

And the GOPBaggers love it.

[andym]

9. I wonder what portion of this is due to the medical providers increasing "costs"

I just had occasion to see a bill for open heart surgery where the patient paid $4000 in co-pays/deductables, the insurance premiums were similar to the average quoted here, but the hospital and doctors took in a total of $130,000 for a 3 day stay receiving the negotiated rates from the non-profit Blue Shield of CA insurance group. The surgeon himself only seemed to receive only $5000 for the operation. The care and outcome were excellent, but the costs seem very high. Blue Shield is part of a very large network of Blue Shield/Blue Cross providers that pool their resources to get the best rates, yet even they are paying quite a bit to the providers. I'm sure a single-payer could probably negotiate even better rates, but would even this solve the problem of ever increasing medical costs due to technology/drugs etc?

[DaveJ]

12. Wow $130K for 3 days is just atrocious

And that negotiated?? I can't think of any mathematical explanation for such costs.

[andym]

14. Sorry that was a typo in the original post. The insurance company paid $110,000

The hospital and doctors originally billed them 170,000. So not quite as bad as it seemed in my original post but still pretty bad.

[DaveJ]

15. Yeah that's not much difference

I'm glad that insurance came through for you, even though it did cost 3 years salary for the average American. Somehow I find it hard to believe that three years were spent working on your 3 day stay. Even if you add up prior development costs. People obviously are robbing the system. Who else can afford all the million dollar McMansions and condos everywhere.

[andym]

18. Over the years the insurance company still has made money from the premiums

from the subscriber that exceed this payout. However, the problem remains that medical costs are very high here in the USA and something needs to be done.

[ProSense]

11. Here's

a Daily Kos post: KFF report: Employer-based health premiums take big jump in 2011

And from the WH: Health Insurance Premium Update

[riderinthestorm]

13. You are going to see more businesses dropping employee coverage in the next 2 yrs

Mark my words that once the mandate is in place, you will see more and more businesses dropping coverage. Why should they continue to subsidize this extortion? Once everyone is forced to buy health insurance themselves in 2014, employers will have no incentive to keep offering it since everyone will have to buy it - enforced by federal law, and insurance companies will have to sell it to even the most high risk person.

Companies will save a bundle by not having to subsidize employee plans. PLUS they get out of the headache of managing their policies - they can cut their HR office in half from the time and labor savings of not managing those behemoths.

The fall-out is going to be very interesting once that happens. The government is going to end up picking up more and more of the health insurance tab (which the health insurance companies will milk/extort for as long and as much as they can) before the growing financial pressure forces Congress to react sooner or later. Either Congress then finally gets smart and enacts something like single payer and/or they eliminate the insurance middle man and adopt a Medicare-for-all scenario. Or worst case scenario, Obama's health care reforms are completely thrown out.

[Safetykitten]

17. Gee....what a surprise...

[lynne]

20. It will be a major campaign issue for Republicans. This increase was anticipated when -

- the health care law was passed. This is no surprise. Insurance companies are now required to keep young adults on family policies longer and will be required to accept people that they know have major health issues necessitating them to pay major claims. The companies are adjusting the rates to initially account for those two increased exposures.

One huge problem is that people keep confusing health care with health insurance. They are two totally different things. The law impacted health insurance but nothing was done to reduce the cost of actual health care. Insurance premiums will continue to rise until the cost of health care is addressed.

This is no surprise - it was discussed prior to the passing of the health care law. I'm sure there are threads regarding the possibility of increase in health insurance premiums archived in DU.