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Health Insurance Increases

A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
My Family of 4 health insurance increases for the last 3 years.

Mar 2010 7.7% increase.
Mar 2011 8.1% increase.
Mar 2012 19.4% increase.

I have BCBS of Florida.

Anyone else care to post comparisons for me to look at?

Thanks, Mikek
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
I saw similar if not larger increases in insurance rates the last two
years, I think the norm was 15%... when I had it. I am now without
health care insurance and will be counting on the Affordable Health Care
Act to even get insurance. I won't be bad mouthing Obama for rate
increases. After all, its not like they are new to the health care
industry.

If you want to complain about the rates, go find out why they are up.
The problem won't be the US government. When was the last time you saw
an MD or insurance company executive driving a Corolla?

Do you think doctors and executives should be middle class, lower
middle class or poor?
In fact, that is the real problem with health care in the US. It is
only given to those who can afford it.

No, if they can afford it, they pay for it.
If they can't afford it, then those that can afford it pay again.

Once the insurance mandate kicks in we will find out what health care
really costs in this country. Then the s*** will hit the fan.

So, do you think those than can afford it will pay more to cover
everyone, or, do you think everyone's health care quality will be lower?
Mikek
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Do you think doctors and executives should be middle class, lower middle
class or poor?

I don't assign class structure to jobs. I believe that the cost of
medical care should be managed and the profit can be found where it may.

I am tired to doctors holding the US hostage. A few years ago Maryland
doctors threatened to leave the state if they didn't pass a bill
limiting malpractice damages to $250,000. Consider that for a moment.
Regardless of how badly a doctor botches a job, he will never be liable
for damages of more than $250,000, even if your life is destroyed and
the resulting medical care will cost millions. The threat worked and
the state passed the bill.

No, if they can afford it, they pay for it.
If they can't afford it, then those that can afford it pay again.

No, if you can't afford health care, you don't get health care. Anyone
who tells you it is freely available to everyone who has no money is
full of bullshark.

So, do you think those than can afford it will pay more to cover
everyone, or, do you think everyone's health care quality will be lower?
Mikek

I think the health care mandate will assure that everyone has the
opportunity to access health care. This will result in the aggregate
costs going up (which by the way is the reason why hospitals and other
care givers agreed to lower compensation from Medicare as part of this
bill). Of course, if we want to cover everyone with health care it will
cost more. But the cost will go up more than this amount as the medical
industry is greedy and will try to extract more profit. The end result
is that it will become unwieldy and the true nature of the cost
increases will finally be visible.

That is what started this thread conversation, the rise in insurance
rates that began long before the Affordable Health Care Act was even on
the table.

Rick
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
I don't assign class structure to jobs. I believe that the cost of
medical care should be managed and the profit can be found where it may.

I am tired to doctors holding the US hostage. A few years ago Maryland
doctors threatened to leave the state if they didn't pass a bill
limiting malpractice damages to $250,000. Consider that for a moment.
Regardless of how badly a doctor botches a job, he will never be liable
for damages of more than $250,000, even if your life is destroyed and
the resulting medical care will cost millions. The threat worked and
the state passed the bill.



No, if you can't afford health care, you don't get health care. Anyone
who tells you it is freely available to everyone who has no money is
full of bullshark.



I think the health care mandate will assure that everyone has the
opportunity to access health care. This will result in the aggregate
costs going up (which by the way is the reason why hospitals and other
care givers agreed to lower compensation from Medicare as part of this
bill). Of course, if we want to cover everyone with health care it will
cost more. But the cost will go up more than this amount as the medical
industry is greedy and will try to extract more profit. The end result
is that it will become unwieldy and the true nature of the cost
increases will finally be visible.

And we have another government program that will be underfunded, we
will need to borrow more money from China. We will soon be borrowing
50 cents of every $1.00 that the government collects in taxes.
What? nobody wants to loan us money because our credits no good.
How can it be?
Mikek
 
H

hamilton

Jan 1, 1970
0
40% in two years? Obama will fix that for you :)

...Jim Thompson
And Romney will fix it so that you can't buy anyway.

So it will be 0% increase a year from now on.

hamilton
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
And Romney will fix it so that you can't buy anyway.

So it will be 0% increase a year from now on.

hamilton

How will he do that?
Mikek
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
And we have another government program that will be underfunded, we will
need to borrow more money from China. We will soon be borrowing
50 cents of every $1.00 that the government collects in taxes.
What? nobody wants to loan us money because our credits no good.
How can it be?
Mikek


What government program? Insurance and health care are private. The
government's role is to initially fund the mandated insurance plan to
get it off the ground. After that it is on it's own and the rates will
reflect the cost of the underlying health care.

The main role of government in this is to mandate that everyone has to
have insurance. That stops them from getting free emergency services
paid for by the rest of us.

What's the real problem here?

Rick
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
The real fix would be to allow ALL insurance companies to compete
across state borders.

And doing away with Medicare as we presently know it. Medicare pays
at a small fraction of billed rates, so everyone else's medical costs
rise to compensate.

More Bullshark. When I worked in the industrial parts industry we had
four price columns depending on how good a customer they were. The
insurance companies get the best price the health care industry will
give because they are large volume users.

The question is, why should I pay a GP $120 for an office visit when
they happily accept $55 from patients with insurance?

But the electorate is ignorant, so I predict we'll look like Russia in
a few years.

...Jim Thompson

Too bad we can't look like Great Britain where every one can get free
health care, including visitors. That's why they ask you about your
health before they let you into the country.

Rick
 
T

tm

Jan 1, 1970
0
rickman said:
More Bullshark. When I worked in the industrial parts industry we had
four price columns depending on how good a customer they were. The
insurance companies get the best price the health care industry will give
because they are large volume users.

The question is, why should I pay a GP $120 for an office visit when they
happily accept $55 from patients with insurance?



Too bad we can't look like Great Britain where every one can get free
health care, including visitors. That's why they ask you about your
health before they let you into the country.

Rick

Where is this "free" health care? Someone must pay for it. Therefor, it is
not free.

I guarantee you that when the government gets involved, it will be much more
expensive. Hell, they are adding 6000 new IRS agents just to start. Who will
pay for them?
 
R

rickman

Jan 1, 1970
0
Where is this "free" health care? Someone must pay for it. Therefor, it
is not free.

I guarantee you that when the government gets involved, it will be much
more expensive. Hell, they are adding 6000 new IRS agents just to start.
Who will pay for them?

The only ones talking about it being "free" are the detractors. The
insurance is paid for, the insurance pays for the health care.

I find it funny that while everyone is all up in arms over the
government doing something to deal with the lack of health care in the
US, the real problem is the rising cost of health care. But no one even
seems to notice the rising water pooling at their feet. Once it reaches
their ankles maybe they will notice.

If the government stays out of health care, in ten years it will be so
expensive that employers will no longer be able to pay the lion's share
of the costs. Years ago they started requiring employees to pay some of
the insurance premium and started raising the deductibles. A friend who
is a teacher was very upset a couple of years ago when she realized her
insurance had a $250 deductible. Imagine how she would feel if it were
$2500 like mine has been for some years now.

What will you do when your health care insurance is paid completely out
of your pocket? Maybe you'll just pay for health care out of your
pocket with no insurance? Yeah, right!

Rick
 
T

tm

Jan 1, 1970
0
rickman said:
The only ones talking about it being "free" are the detractors. The
insurance is paid for, the insurance pays for the health care.

I find it funny that while everyone is all up in arms over the government
doing something to deal with the lack of health care in the US, the real
problem is the rising cost of health care. But no one even seems to
notice the rising water pooling at their feet. Once it reaches their
ankles maybe they will notice.

If the government stays out of health care, in ten years it will be so
expensive that employers will no longer be able to pay the lion's share of
the costs. Years ago they started requiring employees to pay some of the
insurance premium and started raising the deductibles. A friend who is a
teacher was very upset a couple of years ago when she realized her
insurance had a $250 deductible. Imagine how she would feel if it were
$2500 like mine has been for some years now.

What will you do when your health care insurance is paid completely out of
your pocket? Maybe you'll just pay for health care out of your pocket
with no insurance? Yeah, right!

Rick

I have never had a problem with getting health care. I have always had
suitable and affordable insurance.
Sure, there are things I would like to see changed. One would be as JT
stated, open up the market nation wide.

Put controls on the lawyers, i.e. loser pays. How about co-ops for insurance
with some tax advantages to encourage it. As to your complaints, would it
not be nice if you could do like on your auto policy - choose how much
deductible and therefor savings you wish?

Don't you get pissed at all the 1-800-BAD-DRUG commercials you see where the
ambo chasers are running wild playing the jury lottery?

I'm an old fart and really don't care how bad it gets for you in the future.
After all, you made that bed.
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
rickman said:
More Bullshark. When I worked in the industrial parts industry we had
four price columns depending on how good a customer they were. The
insurance companies get the best price the health care industry will

Buzzzz. Wrong answer. Insurance companies like to say that but in
reality they want to prices to be high. Margin is the keyword here.
The bigger the turnover the bigger their profit. Insurance companies
don't care about the price. Their customers will pay anyway.
 
T

Tom Del Rosso

Jan 1, 1970
0
rickman said:
The question is, why should I pay a GP $120 for an office visit when
they happily accept $55 from patients with insurance?

The opposite of reality. Doctors charge less when the patient doesn't have
insurance.

Too bad we can't look like Great Britain where every one can get free
health care, including visitors. That's why they ask you about your
health before they let you into the country.

Naturally if the gov pays for anything then it's free. That's why we should
buy 20 more aircraft carriers. They're free after all.
 
T

Tom Del Rosso

Jan 1, 1970
0
amdx said:
I'm thinking that is his fix. :-(

Of course. He promised you'd be able to keep your private insurance if you
wanted to, so predictably he's driving the price up.
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
The only ones talking about it being "free" are the detractors. The
insurance is paid for, the insurance pays for the health care.

I find it funny that while everyone is all up in arms over the
government doing something to deal with the lack of health care in the
US, the real problem is the rising cost of health care. But no one even
seems to notice the rising water pooling at their feet. Once it reaches
their ankles maybe they will notice.

If the government stays out of health care, in ten years it will be so
expensive that employers will no longer be able to pay the lion's share
of the costs. Years ago they started requiring employees to pay some of
the insurance premium and started raising the deductibles. A friend who
is a teacher was very upset a couple of years ago when she realized her
insurance had a $250 deductible. Imagine how she would feel if it were
$2500 like mine has been for some years now.

What will you do when your health care insurance is paid completely out
of your pocket? Maybe you'll just pay for health care out of your
pocket with no insurance? Yeah, right!

Rick

Hmm... My deductible is $10,000, been that for about three years.
When I made the change from $2,500 to $10,000 deductible, my premium
dropped from $9,900 to $4,300. It's now up to $6,276.00.
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ask any Veteran you know about 'free' VA medical care. You WON'T
like what you hear.

FREE; adjective.
An item or service received by one, that is paid for by the blood,
sweat and tears, of the 50% of hardworking Americans that pay taxes.

I suggest that when ever the word "free" is used describing any
government benefit, it be changed to the above description.

Talk to your congressman.
Mikek
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
The opposite of reality. Doctors charge less when the patient doesn't have
insurance.



Naturally if the gov pays for anything then it's free. That's why we should
buy 20 more aircraft carriers. They're free after all.

FREE; adjective.
An item or service received by one, that is paid for by the blood,
sweat and tears, of the 50% of hardworking Americans that are taxpayers.

Mikek
 
The opposite of reality. Doctors charge less when the patient doesn't have
insurance.

Reality is a little different. Wh6at doctors charge isn't what doctors
collect. They collect *less* from insurance.
Naturally if the gov pays for anything then it's free. That's why we should
buy 20 more aircraft carriers. They're free after all.

Think of the jobs 20 aircraft carriers would create!
 
C

Charlie E.

Jan 1, 1970
0
What government program? Insurance and health care are private. The
government's role is to initially fund the mandated insurance plan to
get it off the ground. After that it is on it's own and the rates will
reflect the cost of the underlying health care.

The main role of government in this is to mandate that everyone has to
have insurance. That stops them from getting free emergency services
paid for by the rest of us.

What's the real problem here?

Rick
Government funding the mandated insurance plans? What planet are YOU
on????

All the government will do is the mandate, oh, and fund a huge
beauracracy to implement and oversee that mandate. The COST of that
mandate will come out of those unlucky enough to have to actually PAY
for their healthcare. I know mine went up last time because I now
have coverage for pregnancy and menopause, which, if I should use it,
would be big news!

As for AFFORDABLE, the law just says that the insurance companies have
to offer the insurance, not how much they have to charge for it! I am
waiting to see how much the coverage for folks with existing
conditions is actually going to cost them!
 
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