So, you wonder why health insurance is so expensive

[Fieldmouse]

Last week Obama put in place more freebies for women. Insurance companies now must provide all this extra crap at no charge.

http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/

[Alsatian]

As a nation we speak about our healthcare costs going up. Indeed they are. It is implied -- often -- that this is somehow the result of a "broken" healthcare system. I think otherwise. The typical discussion -- somewhat different from the context of this thread -- is how our total national costs are increasing. There are three separate but additive factors that are contributing to the increasing summed costs of healthcare in the US, none of which are explained by a "broken" healthcare system. (1) Inflation afflicts healthcare just as it does other goods and services. (2) The product we are referring to when we say "healthcare" is not a constant product. We keep adding new products and procedures we didn't used to have -- and consequently didn't have to pay for -- in the past. (3) Old people need more healthcare than young people. Demographically, our country has more old people -- as a fraction of the total population -- than formerly. What is the fraction of people who are older than 65 years of age versus the total population? This is increasing dramatically because of two reasons. First, our birth rates are much slower than formerly. Second, people are living longer!!!

At any rate . . . no wonder the aggregate healthcare costs of our nation are going up. I can recommend a simple solution. First, kill off the old folks when they exceed an allowable age. Second, let's just roll back our medical procedures and prescription drugs to what was state-of-the-art in 1950. We didn't have a healthcare expense problem in 1950, right?!! Obviously I'm being facetious. Still, unless you contemplate something like this . . . you have a healthcare cost problem. And neither Republicans or Democrats can wave a magic wand and make these causes go away. I don't pretend to know the answer, but until you squarely face these three causes (and really I'm referring to #2 and #3 -- problem #1 is not specifically a healthcare problem but a broader economic problem -- and maybe it is a problem which can not be fixed but can at best only be managed to stay at an endurable rate) you aren't going to make much progress. And ignoring these two problems and jumping immediately to the conclusion "the system is broken" isn't going to lead to meaningful or helpful solutions.

Anyway, enough of my rant. With reference to Fieldmouse's comment. Yes, if you throw in more stuff that has to be provided by insurance companies, the costs will go up. No doubt. Anything that perturbs the actuarial calculations is going to perturb the costs. Change the maximum lifetime benefit, the cost is going to change. Change who is covered, the cost is going to change. Etc. I'm not saying this shouldn't be done. That is a different story, a different debate. But it should not come as a surprise that the costs go up.

[Knightia]

Last week Obama put in place more freebies for women. Insurance companies now must provide all this extra crap at no charge.

More gov mandates geez- busy lil things. Of course nothing is free, as i know you know to.
It will come from somwhere/passed on as higher costs etc etc. And as Al says no big suprize really that costs in general are ever increasing.
( to hear some out there talk we only get thrd health world care herein the Us)

It does cost a bit to try to deliver (notfree) heath care to the ppl & women etc of the world to( free give away programs in the name of tough love, deplomacy, building a village to care for all the worlds women children etc etc) .

.................................................. ...

The Global Health Initiative: The Next Phase of American Leadership in Health Around The World



This thinking informs every aspect of the Global Health Initiative, which President Obama addressed last year. The United States is investing $63 billion – first, to sustain and strengthen our existing health programs, and second, to build upon those programs and take their work to the next level by collaborating with governments, organizations, civil society groups, and individuals to help broaden the improvements in public health that we can expect.

Despite all the investments the United States has already made and that the world has already made, to stop this epidemic, we know we confront 2.7 million new infections every year. So if we are going to win this war, we need to get better results in prevention. And our strategy under the Global Health Initiative will enable us to do so.

So the immediate impact for PEPFAR is clear. Its funding will increase, its impact will increase, and its prevention strategies will become more comprehensive.

Similarly, we are strengthening our support for the other health programs we fund around the world.

We are increasing our support for the President’s Malaria Initiative, with the goal of reducing the malaria burden by 50 percent for 450 million people.

Against tuberculosis, we intend to save 1.3 million lives by increasing access to treatment.

And we are scaling up our work in family planning and maternal and child health—areas in which the United States can and must lead. Every year, hundreds of thousands of women die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, nearly all of them in the developing world, and for every one woman who dies, 20 more suffer debilitating injuries or infections. And every year, millions of children in the developing world die from wholly preventable causes.

Saving the lives of women and children requires a range of care, from improving nutrition to training birth attendants who can help women give birth safely. It also requires increased access to family planning.

Family planning represents one of the most cost-effective public health interventions available in the world today. It prevents both maternal and child deaths by helping women space their births and bear children during their healthiest years. And it reduces the deaths of women from unsafe abortions.

[salukipv1]

It's about time BC was covered!

[Fieldmouse]

Originally Posted by salukipv1

It's about time BC was covered!

Why, I don't need it. Why should I be forced to pay for it?

[North Texan]

At any rate . . . no wonder the aggregate healthcare costs of our nation are going up. I can recommend a simple solution. First, kill off the old folks when they exceed an allowable age. Second, let's just roll back our medical procedures and prescription drugs to what was state-of-the-art in 1950. We didn't have a healthcare expense problem in 1950, right?!! Obviously I'm being facetious.

Damn! And you were about to win my vote.

[Fieldmouse]

Alsatian, my point being we now force insurance companies to cover over 1000 mandates. Everything from marriage consoling to port wine removal. I understand improvements come all the time, but it's the insurance companies that should be able to pick and choose what they want to provide, not government. Then on top of this, everyone must get free care at the emergency room. That is as long as you don't go to michelle's hospital. We need to wake up and realize, healthcare isn't a right. You just can't wave a magic wand and heal someone. It costs money.

[Sfury]

Actually frivolous lawsuits cost the US nation far more than any freebies handed out. The sheer amount paid to insurance companies by the user, and then by the Doctor, or their supporting facility, is ludicrous.

I'm not saying more handouts don't hurt, but stopping medical malpractice lawsuits would go a long way towards reducing the money sent to the insurance companies. Money that could be spent on so many other things.

[Fieldmouse]

Originally Posted by hockeydad

I'll say, my wifes cancer treatment has cost the insurance company more than $100,000. She has had 3 surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. I'm guessing the total is near the $150K mark. How many Americans could pay for that kind of treatment out of their own pockets?

By the way, the treatment permanently damaged my wife's hearing so we are purchasing her hearing aids. The hearing aids cost $6,500 and are not covered by insurance. She started out at 5'8'' and 120 lbs, she is now at 90 lbs. She looks like a holocaust reject. In my humble opinion, I think we should give criminals the option of 10 years in prison or 1 year of chemo w/radiation. The rate of recidivism would evaporate!
The odd thing about it was that my wife never smoked, drinks very rarely and has absolutely none of the risk factors for oral cancer, she just pulled the long straw in the game of life.

And I pray for your wife's recovery. Your struggle is our struggle here. My point isn't her and never has been.

I believe there is room for both in our world. If you are without insurance, the governments role isn't to provide you with coverage by enslaving people. Their job is to incentivise the system to provide the private need. However, under Obama and back up by the Dems, we want government to do this. There are many many different ways for the government to entice the best ideas to work on the problem and solve it. Solve it in a way that doesn't require slavery.

[falcon]

FM: i don't mean to hijack your thread. But it's impossible for most lay persons to comprehend what a scam the medical "profession" is running on the gov't and the insurance companies.

For over 40 years i've had trouble sleeping. i used to take a sleeping pill every week or two and it would keep me in sync. Ran out of sleeping pills and asked my Dr. for a new script. Really big screwup on my part and a big expense for Medi-Care (Tri-Care for life).

1. First here comes a medical supply place with an oxygen concentrator and an emergency oxygen tank. Cost about $250 per month.

i don't need any damned oxygen. i need a sleeping pill once in awhile.

2. Then there were two appointments with an ENT clinic. Total cost: About $1,000.

3. The ENT clinic sent tme to a scam outfit called Global Sleep who did a night long sleep study. Cost: A whopping $6,000.

Now the Dr. will not give me a script for sleeping pills because Global Sleep says i have mild sleep apnea, which is bull$hit.

The kicker: Took the oxygen stuff back to the medical supply place. The will not take it back until the tells them too.