Yeah!! My health insurance is only going up 13% this year.

Considering it was up 30% or so last year and 40% or so the year before, 13% is puny. It's still ridiculous that with no real inflation and stagnant wages that healthcare cost magically still go up 13%. There's something rotten with the system.

At 13%, I'm still above average though. This is me. I'm one of the 110K.

"The California Department of Managed Health Care said it was still reviewing a separate request from Anthem for a 13.8% increase on average for 110,000 members who hold different policies."

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/...s-20120322

the problem with our health care and its costs is that people are getting fatter, excercising less, still smoking, still sedentary, still eating burgers/fries, and doing lots of drugs and alcohol. there are othe causes as well.

Quote from SigX : the problem with our health care and its costs is that people are getting fatter, excercising less, still smoking, still sedentary, still eating burgers/fries, and doing lots of drugs and alcohol. there are othe causes as well.

Exactly. It has nothing to do with "greedy insurance companies," excessive CEO salaries, or anything else. It's all because the cost of and demand for health care continues to rise.

Quote from SigX : the problem with our health care and its costs is that people are getting fatter, excercising less, still smoking, still sedentary, still eating burgers/fries, and doing lots of drugs and alcohol. there are othe causes as well.

also more expensive technologies are coming about to allow people to live longer.

a person under 25 uses about $3k a year on healthcare spending. After 65 the average exceeds $20k per year.

You'd think they're be discounts for being young, low BMI, good blood pressure etc.. etc.. Don't poor drivers (accidents, citations etc..) normally pay more for car insurance?

Yeah, we've been providing health insurance for free for employees for more than 15 years. Next increase we get, we're going to an employee shared cost for it.

When you have a monopoly provider of something people must have, costs will rise to what people can afford to pay. And the AMA does its best to monopolize the providers, primarily through lobbying.

You mean your "incase you get ill or hurt enough to need allopathic treatment" premiums. How does paying it keep your "health" insured?

No it's not Jeopardy, you don't need to answer in the form of a question, it's just the bottom line issue. F.I.R.E away.

Welcome to free market Capitalism...where your health is reduced to dollars and cents.

Quote from 124nic8 : When you have a monopoly provider of something people must have, costs will rise to what people can afford to pay. And the AMA does its best to monopolize the providers, primarily through lobbying.

Exactly. Healthcare by it's nature is not self regulated by market forces. It's hard to comparison shop when you are having a heart attack. It is a de facto monopoly. Unlike other monopolies though, it is not heavily regulated. I would be happy to see that hospitals/doctors be required to publish pricelists. The standard retort is that the hospitals don't know how much to charge since they don't know what needs to be done until it's over. You can say the same for car mechanics, yet they have published industry rates they charge. You pay to get a transmission swapped out. Sometimes it takes less time and sometimes it takes more but there is a standard book price they will quote. Why should healthcare be any different? At a minimum, they should be able to tell you how much they've charged other people. As things are, it's like they make up the prices. Even going to the same hospital, getting the same proceedure with the same outcome the price for two people can be $50,000 different. That's ridiculous. Other countries don't have a problem doing this. If they can do it, why can't we?

http://www.denverpost.com/nationw...alth-study

Quote from 403forbidden : Welcome to free market Capitalism...where your health is reduced to dollars and cents.

That's the thing though. It's not free market capitalism. In order to have a free market, the consumer has to be able to compare things like price, outcomes between various vendors. In the US healthcare system, that's impossible. Ever call up a doctor/hospital and ask them how much something will cost? You won't get an answer. It's like ordering a laptop and then being charged whatever the vendor wants. They'll let you know after you get it. No returns.

Mine's going up about the same. On a positive note, I now get coverage for a toupee for certain conditions! (true story - it was in a special notice that Aetna sent along with the increase notice lol)

Quote from Mike A. : Mine's going up about the same. On a positive note, I now get coverage for a toupee for certain conditions! (true story - it was in a special notice that Aetna sent along with the increase notice lol)

Cool. I skipped looking at most of that notice. I stopped after they said that my doctor is no longer allowed to give me an opinion over email. Before, I could email my doctor for simple things and she could say blah blah blah I'll send some script to the pharmacy. No charge. Now that's no longer allowed. I have to go in. I guess someone wasn't getting paid for the email freebies.

Quote from travfar : Cool. I skipped looking at most of that notice. I stopped after they said that my doctor is no longer allowed to give me an opinion over email. Before, I could email my doctor for simple things and she could say blah blah blah I'll send some script to the pharmacy. No charge. Now that's no longer allowed. I have to go in. I guess someone wasn't getting paid for the email freebies.

I've never had that option. Always have to go in. Sometimes I can call for some kind of follow-up after seeing a doc initially and they'll do something for me but beyond that forget it. Seems like a more efficient, lower cost way to do things to me. Guess that's why they nixed it. ; )

Quote from 403forbidden : Welcome to free market Capitalism...where your health is reduced to dollars and cents.

sorry dude, we haven't had a free market in the medical care industry since medicare and medicaid were created...they were the original market intervention, that effectively placed a price floor on any services that are covered by those systems: providers have NO REASON WHATSOEVER to charge you less for a service than the government pays for it...thus no competition...and it got worse since then.

Medical industries are among the most overly regulated in the country...so much so that it actually deters entry of new providers, and even pushes existing ones to quit (we've all heard the stories of doctors quitting the business, most famously OB/GYNs). The FDA doesn't help either, making new drugs and equipment hideously expensive to get to market.

Ask yourself, why is Lasik surgery half the cost it used to be with much better technology and results? Precisely because IT IS a free market system free from government and insurance company intervention. Because the end-use pays for it, there is competition from the providers for the consumers to choose them: they find ways to do it cheaper and better, come up with better and newer techniques and equipment that produce better results

On the other hand, anything covered by medicare/medicaid and /or insurance has no such competition..they get paid anyway, and why should they charge you $90 for something that the government pays them $100 for? of course they wouldn't

It's like a drug addict who doesnt realize that the cause of his problems IS the drugs...those who keep advocating for more and more government intervention in health care to control costs just do not fathom that the cause for those high costs in the first place IS THE GOVERNMENT itself