Health Care Costs Surge 11%

[hardheadjarhead]

Health care costs jump 11%.

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.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5951804/?GT1=5100


We were talking about health care in another thread...anybody want to play with this one?


Regards,


Steve

 

[Flatlander]

It seems to me that in the US there are two factors that would cause a rise in the cost to the citizen - general inflationary rise of actual medical costs, and the ever increasing annual profit per share of the insurance companies. I'm curious how much each has contributed to this 11%.

 

[MisterMike]

It probably matters what State you are living in as well. Cali is paying a lot of dough for all their illegals.

 

[rmcrobertson]

Fashionable as it is to blame, "all those illegals," for cost increases, this is only a fraction--and a small one--of the problem.

In California as elsewhere, the real causes are:

1. Corporate medicine (check out the Anthem/Wellpoint merger!), and the increasing demand for profits.

2. Increased costs of technology, and a cultural bias toward higher and higher technology.

3. A refusal of citizens (and our culture) to adopt healthy lifestyles--we're fat and stressed-out, we eat badly, and we don't exercise nearly enough.

4. Increased prescription costs.

5. Paying and paying and paying for the, "two ends," of the patient spectrum--preemies, and the very elderly.

6. The fantasy that we're going to live forever, which means endless expensive care.

7. The rise in labor costs--many nurses and orderlies, for example, have somehow gotten the ridiculous idea that THEY deserve decent wages and benefits, which they previously never had.

8. The rise in doctors' salaries/insurance costs to protect doctors against greedy patients. Also, the sloppiness of American hospitals and doctors.

before y'all start yelling, you need to knoww that I have a) ten years' hospital experience; b) I sit on an advisory board that purchases health care benefits for a lot of people. Not that that should slow anybody down.

Incidentally, the Scandinavian countries have excellent health care largely because a) of patients' lifestyles, b) social support for the sick, c) their socialized medicine system, d) government regulation.

 

[D_Brady]

Incidentally, the Scandinavian countries have excellent health care largely because a) of patients' lifestyles, b) social support for the sick, c) their socialized medicine system, d) government regulation.

What kind of government regulation are they using ?

 

[rmcrobertson]

Fair enough. However, do your own research.

 

[D_Brady]

No no I was asking a question not making a statement. You have 10 years in the field I have none.

My question was more of a what are they doing right that we could be doing here.

 

[rmcrobertson]

OK, ya got me...musta woke up on the wrong side of the garbage can this morning...this is from a website on working in Denmark:

Public health insurance

Health insurance services and hospitalisation is free in Denmark
Everyone residing in Denmark has the right to health insurance services as well as hospital assistance. The services included in the public health insurance are free medical consultation from a general practitioner, medical consultation from specialists and subsidies for medicine, dentist and chiropractor consultations - with a referral from your general practitioner - physiotherapy, podiatry and psychology consultations. The subsidy varies according to type of treatment and will be subtracted from your bill.

New arrivals from EU countries et al.

If you move to Denmark from an EU/EEA country or from certain other countries (Switzerland, Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco, Quebec, Macedonia, Croatia or Slovenia) and are or have been covered by the public health insurance in that country, you are covered by the Danish health insurance as soon as you arrive. You have to bring a form showing that you were covered in the country you are moving from. If you take up work in Denmark and move here from an EEA country in which you have been covered by the public health insurance, you need the form E104. If you are stationed in Denmark less than 1 year, you need the form E128 and the form E106 if you intend to stay more than 1 year. The forms should be signed by the health insurance in the country from which you are stationed and presented to the local authorities in Denmark. EEA nationals who have a private health insurance in their home country are not entitled to health care services and hospital assistance until 6 weeks after arrival.
*
Other new arrivals
New arrivals from other countries are entitled to public health insurance 6 weeks after arrival. With the exception of urgent hospital assistance, you must pay for any treatment you need during the first 6 weeks in Denmark.


In other words, they have government-subsidized health care. They--like all the EU countries--also have lower rates of just about everything than we do.

Hm.

 

[Phoenix44]

1. Corporatization of medicine.

2. Fragmentation of health insurance.

3. Aging population.

4. Unhealthy lifestyle.

5. Defensive medicine.