SanDiegogirl

........ and premiums are up again.

This year the California state senate mandated increased coverage for people suffering from Autism and Maternity benefits during pregnancy.

http://www.andreini.com/blog/2012/01...rnity-mandate/

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/..._asm_comm.html


Hubby and I have just received notices from Aetna informing us that because of these new mandates, and an overall increase in medical costs, our premiums for our individual plans are going up by 13% ! Together we will now be paying over $1,000 a month for coverage.

Other health insurance companies have put in requests for average increases of between 3% for Group cover and 12% for individual.

While these mandates add substantial value and protection to those folks who have these illnesses (although I would call the majority of those who get pregnant of making a life choice), do you suppose that those Mandarins in the Senate who passed these mandates thought about who is going to pay for these new services?

Or maybe they neither thought about it nor cared anyway, since they have their gold plated health coverage and benefits.

Where is this all going to end?

One thing made us smile though. Since hubby is 64 I don't think we will be using the maternity benefit option.

(Which then brought up the question, that , since we have individual plans, could the maternity/benefit feature not be an option rather than a feature because some people are most definitely not going to require it)

Michael

The first thing you have to ask, is the majority of the increase due to the added requirements or just another reason for insurance companies to raise rates as double digit percent increases to increase corporate profits like they have been doing for the past 20 years? Naturally the insurance companies would never admit that and will uses any excuse to double the rate increase.

A business only flourishes on Wall Street when it can show at least a 6% profit increase year after year. Some say that the health insurance companies aren't making excessive profits such as AETNA since the return on investment (stock price) is only about 13% but the stock price has increased about 5 fold over the past ten years covering approximately that same number of policy holders. Without the increase in stock price, they would now have a return on investment (stock price) of about 65%.

So therefore since health insurance companies are not competitive and not increasing the number of policy holders, there is an expected minimum of about 6% increase in profits even if health care costs remain the same.

Giantaxe

I'll guarantee you that half the population is never going to need coverage for prostate cancer either.

Michael

Or gynecological exams.

SanDiegogirl

While I am no fan of the insurance companies, looking at my health bills over the past three years, the costs of quite minor visits like annual check ups, an annual visit to the dermatologist etc have increased by between 20% and 30% and, in one particular checkup, doubled.

I can see no viable reason why these costs have increased so dramatically - in most cases its the same doctor, same room, no different treatment. Yet in these days of low interest rates and decreased economic times, the medical profession still hikes its costs, without, it appears, any controls or justification.

Put this together with the insurance companies themselves expecting to obtain a good profit margin and as said, where is this going to end?

My original note was to highlight how powerless the consumer is with regard increasing medical charges.

Michael

The problem is that there isn't any competition in the medical field and there never will be.

The republican solution is to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines to increase the competition which they claim will reduce insurance costs. Belive it or not, the democrats also favor health insurance being sold across state lines but the difference is that the republicans want laws where the insurance company is headquartered to define the regulations for the policies where as the democrats want a federal law to define the regulations.

Under the republican plan, premiums should drop but at the expense of easy cancellations and denials, limited coverage with a lot of fine print, and high deductibles.

So there really isn't a solution to health care costs except possibly a government takeover that could apply pressure on the medical profession.

fatbrit

When it all crashes down around us. And that's the best thing that could happen. Bring it on!

fatbrit

Maybe you should ask them why they couldn't find savings here:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/node/10946

HarryTheSpider

This was one of the arguments in the EU for adopting the Euro currency - prices across EU will be easier to compare and be driven down. They were easier to compare - by business owners too, who promptly put them up to the top.

Premiums won't drop - they'll race up to be the same as the highest existing premiums.

I wonder if any medical insurance companies contributed to campaign funds...???

sunnysideup

[QUOTE=SanDiegogirl;10033693]........ Where is this all going to end?
QUOTE]

This may sound couterintuitive, but part of the solution is us. If we as a nation want lower premiums, then we must consume fewer medical services. To do that you sometimes have to override your doctor. Sounds stupid I know because he's the expert, but he's not looking at the cost. Here's an example from my experience:

Doctor says I might have a kidney problem. Sends me for an ultrasound. Result: 95% confidence there's no problem. Cost $500. [note: the NHS will stop at this point].
Stage 2: Doctor sends me for MRI. Result: 98% confidence there's no problem. Cost $5000.
Stage 3: Result not good enough. He sends me for a CAT scan. Result: 99% probability of no problem. Cost $10000.

So for $15k I get the all clear. The NHS would have been satisfied with the $500 test and 95% probability.

So, you have to say to your doctor that 95% is good enough. But will you?

How many people do you know that go running to the doctor for the slightest sniffle. Their atttiude is 'I've paid for insurance so I'm going to use it!'.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the medical industry, but Americans themselves are part of the problem.