Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times had a good article on the outrageous cost of health insurance, especially relative to inflation. As a small-business owner, I struggle with this issue every year. Each time we come up for renewal, I am forced to increase our deductibles or reduce our benefits in order to keep the costs of premiums at a manageable level. I blame both the health insurance carriers for these increases and the health providers for increasing their fees at a much greater rate than inflation in general. Here are excerpts:
If gas and milk price hikes seem steep, check out health insurance
premiums. They have increased 10 times faster than incomes in recent
years, a study shows.Workers with job-based coverage for their families saw earnings rise 3%
from 2001 to 2005, while their health insurance premium contribution
increased 30%, according to the study by researchers at the State
Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota.The average cost nationally of family coverage during the period
increased nearly $2,500, to $10,728 from $8,281. The average cost for
job-based family coverage in California increased more than $2,650, to
$10,551 from $7,898.Between 2001 and 2005,
more than 30,000 of the 3.6 million private-sector employers offering
health insurance as a benefit to workers dropped it.As a result, the number of people in private-sector jobs that offered
health insurance benefits declined by more than 4 million, and the
number of people with private insurance fell by 2.4 million, or 6%, the
study found.
This isn’t the half of it. American workers are losing countless hours dealing with the bureacratic frustration of ensuring their benefits are paid. Take for example a recent appointment I had with my physician. The physician ordered blood tests at a major facility in the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area. The insurer denies this as “routine.” I then spend nearly 4 hours on the phone on a workday calling the physician, my insurer, and my third-party insurer (who cover the first $1500 deductible). On top of this, I pay for premium coverage over $500 out of my pocket a month to avoid these type of issues. It’s to the point where if it wasn’t for licensing in my profession, I’d say “screw it,” ditch my insurance, and let the hospitals eat it.
I feel your pain Michael.
As the owner of a law firm, and the guy who actually signs the insurance premium checks each month, I’d think I might get a little special treatment from our carrier. But they give me the same hassles as everyone else gets — disputing charges, disputing necessity, arguing about prescription costs, etc.
I don’t have the answers, but I know that *something* has to be done before we all go broke and crazy.
Bob Kraft