2016 Health Insurance Premiums

fitznj,

Horray for you as you said it as it actually is!!!

Our Son bought the controlling interest of and owned a mid-sized manufacturing operation in the Milands of England. Moved family there to run it and it was mind boggling what he experienced with the single payer healthcare system for his employees and the actual outragous true expense/cost for it by both the employees and the employer for second class at best healthcare. Exactly what you'd said in your own post here. Long lines, cheapest type inadequate care possible regardless, so often treated like numbers or animals - not humans, extremely high taxes which constantly rose for all yearly for very poor iffy care.

Your comment on British teeth is the absolute terrible truth and is so obvious. Been there personally and seen it so many times along with most people. So many having other real health issues which were only partially cared for due to costs and cheaping out methods used. It was and is SICKENING!

Although his operation was very profitable, he so sorely missed what we have here in the USA and sold his manufacturing operation and moved back here. He refers to the single payer healthcare system as "3rd world conscript could careless"! People here talk big and are so gullible and misled. Seeing it firsthand is an eyeopener! The ACA is not nor will it be affordable as it's leads to the smae failed systems other nations have experienced and/or are experiencing. Absolutely no incentive to excel for workers in the healthcare system nor in the research and development of new drugs and vaccines as there's nothing to be gained for them. Just a job had with NO carrot at the end of the stick so why eventry to reach it? It's not there and they aren't stupid!

It's just like acomparison to the average union member as you are a number and will only advance by seniority as older members retire, die, or quit. Not according your own abilities or hard relentless effort constantly put forth. Means nothing! Why do so many American people think so many employees quit their captive employment, scrape together all the $$$ they can and get huge loans by mortgaging their future to go thru mountains of legal stuff and very long hours to start their own business even though approx 95% on new businesses will fail in the first 5 years??? It's the chance to innovate and succeed that they will never have being an owned and controlled conscript! The very same is true in medical and/or healthcare and/or medical research but there's NO carrot or real winnings at the end of the stick with single payer system or the ACA Act which comes with very high taxation, ever very fast increasing citizen costs, government controlled, and a one size fits all regardless! Take away profit potential and there is NO incentive at all to actually succeed!!! What's to gain? Can't spend to or raise a family on pride alone!

steveh27 wrote:
The ACA was a gift to the insurers. They helped write the law and got to drop plans they felt were 'unprofitable' and are guaranteed a 'profit' from the US taxpayer.

I believe we should have a form of single payer like every other western democracy. Our health care outcomes are not very good compared to them and our costs are at least 25% higher. Here is a good 2009 article from a Canadian doctor comparing our pre-ACA system to theirs:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/03/opinion/oe-rachlis3

Here are two article from a very "liberal" source that claims just the opposite. costs more then it's worth
you better hope you don't get really sick (like cancer)

tjfogelberg wrote:
This is a complex topic. I posted it here because the issue (dramatically rising health care costs) impacts all of us and leaves less money in our pockets for camping! :) Thanks everyone for your feedback. No easy answers. One final thought (from me)... We already have single payer for everyone 65 and over! Medicare system is generally considered more efficient at processing claims than the private insurers. I would like to see a Medicare option for those under 65. Enrollment would be optional and serve as an alternative to the mess we have now. There would be premiums just like there are now for those 65 and older. Those premiums would vary depending on INCOME and age (ability to pay) - not health status. Thanks again.

As someone who recently transitioned onto Medicare I'm not sure I can agree that it is efficient and such, but I do agree making it optional for everyone of any age would have been a far better solution that Obamacare. Another option Congress could have considered was expanding the VA to be the healthcare provider of last resort while removing the requirement that healthcare providers who receive public funds are obligated to provide services regardless of the patient's ability to pay. But I think in considering both these options even Congress was smart enough to realize that they would have sunk the country financially and that's why they shifted the cost burden to the young and healthy. Obamacare wasn't a gift to the people, it was a gift to the insurance companies.

tjfogelberg wrote:
This is a complex topic. I posted it here because the issue (dramatically rising health care costs) impacts all of us and leaves less money in our pockets for camping! :) Thanks everyone for your feedback. No easy answers. One final thought (from me)... We already have single payer for everyone 65 and over! Medicare system is generally considered more efficient at processing claims than the private insurers. I would like to see a Medicare option for those under 65. Enrollment would be optional and serve as an alternative to the mess we have now. There would be premiums just like there are now for those 65 and older. Those premiums would vary depending on INCOME and age (ability to pay) - not health status. Thanks again.

x2

The answer to lowering insurance costs is not single payer. The answer is competition. Quit with the artificial restrictions that prohibit me from purchasing a health care plan of my choosing. Allow insurance companies to sell "across state lines", and open up more options for consumers.

Don't mandate an insurance plan, call it "affordable", and then if I decide NOT to take it, impose a fine on me.

While we are at it, let's encourage more doctors to offer lower costs for services, if I pay cash. There are examples out there where doctors have offered up cash services, at greatly reduced cost, because they don't have to go through all the BS with insurance companies.

OBTW - my primary care doctor personally apologized to me because he is spending more time dealing with government regulations, that take away from his time to provide me with the services I am accustomed to. He used to call me at home, at night and follow up on some issues with my wife and I. He quit doing that because he was just too swamped with govt bureaucracy, and too tired to follow up outside of office hours. So, yeah, lets levy even MORE bureaucracy on my doctor.

This thread has certainly touched a nerve for all of us.

Mike

Walaby wrote:
If Canada's healthcare is so great, why do so many come to the US to get treatment...

Testimony of Sally C. Pipes, President and CEO, Pacific Research Institute
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, March 11, 2014

Those Canadians who can afford to do so have simply opted out of their healthcare system. An enormous number jump the queue for care in their native land and travel to the United States to receive medical attention. In 2012, over 42,000 Canadians crossed the border to get treated.

Your statement is wrong. There are 35 million Canadians, so less than 0.1% came to the US for elective care. The vast majority are very satisfied with their system. As the article I linked said "The Canadian system does have its problems, and these also provide important lessons. Notwithstanding a few well-publicized and misleading cases, Canadians needing urgent care get immediate treatment. But we do wait too long for much elective care, including appointments with family doctors and specialists and selected surgical procedures. We also do a poor job managing chronic disease.

However, according to the New York-based Commonwealth Fund, both the American and the Canadian systems fare badly in these areas.
Lesson No. 5: Canadian healthcare delivery problems have nothing to do with our single-payer system and can be fixed by re-engineering for quality.

U.S. health policy would be miles ahead if policymakers could learn these lessons. But they seem less interested in Canada's, or any other nation's, experience than ever. Why?

American democracy runs on money. Pharmaceutical and insurance companies have the fuel. Analysts see hundreds of billions of premiums wasted on overhead that could fund care for the uninsured. But industry executives and shareholders see bonuses and dividends.

Compounding the confusion is traditional American ignorance of what happens north of the border, which makes it easy to mislead people. Boilerplate anti-government rhetoric does the same. The U.S. media, legislators and even presidents have claimed that our "socialized" system doesn't let us choose our own doctors. In fact, Canadians have free choice of physicians. It's Americans these days who are restricted to "in-plan" doctors.

Unfortunately, many Americans won't get to hear the straight goods because vested interests are promoting a caricature of the Canadian experience."

If Canada's healthcare is so great, why do so many come to the US to get treatment...

Testimony of Sally C. Pipes, President and CEO, Pacific Research Institute
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, March 11, 2014

Those Canadians who can afford to do so have simply opted out of their healthcare system. An enormous number jump the queue for care in their native land and travel to the United States to receive medical attention. In 2012, over 42,000 Canadians crossed the border to get treated.

This is a complex topic. I posted it here because the issue (dramatically rising health care costs) impacts all of us and leaves less money in our pockets for camping! :) Thanks everyone for your feedback. No easy answers. One final thought (from me)... We already have single payer for everyone 65 and over! Medicare system is generally considered more efficient at processing claims than the private insurers. I would like to see a Medicare option for those under 65. Enrollment would be optional and serve as an alternative to the mess we have now. There would be premiums just like there are now for those 65 and older. Those premiums would vary depending on INCOME and age (ability to pay) - not health status. Thanks again.

The ACA was a gift to the insurers. They helped write the law and got to drop plans they felt were 'unprofitable' and are guaranteed a 'profit' from the US taxpayer.

I believe we should have a form of single payer like every other western democracy. Our health care outcomes are not very good compared to them and our costs are at least 25% higher. Here is a good 2009 article from a Canadian doctor comparing our pre-ACA system to theirs:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/03/opinion/oe-rachlis3

My carrier dropped the plan. They filed with the State of Oregon for a 42% increase the State would not approve so they dropped it. Sunday I'll be shopping again.