A significant issue for workers, businesses and the government is the rising and growing cost of healthcare. It is projected that 16.2 percent of the gross domestic product or GDP of the United States would be spent on healthcare in 2007 alone. This statistic has grown considerably faster than the economy since the 1960s. Projected statistics places the spending cost at approximately $7,500 for every American or a total of $2.2 trillion for the healthcare cost in 2007. In 1970, the figure was about $365 for every American and $75 billion for the year. Side by side with GDP, healthcare cost has risen 2.4 percent faster since 1970. The U.S. appropriates more of its economy in healthcare expenditure more than any other developed country in the World.
“Buyer Beware” may be an old saying but is still applicable nowadays especially with health insurance quote online. It may cost you a lot of time doing your homework but better safe than never because you may be saving yourself hundreds of dollars in the process. Be careful in receiving bogus information on what you actually wanted and check out first before receiving the plan you thought the health insurance quoted. It is possible that the insurance company will only pay a small portion of the bill. If the policy is only vague, you may not be aware that what you paid for is not a full insurance benefit and only a fraction is what they could cover.
The cost of health care keeps on growing faster than the economy while employers and health insurance companies that provide coverage to employees try to reconcile the difference between the demand for more health services and the ability to pay for those services. An emergence of a new strategy that may influence how private insurance will shape up in the future is seen on the horizon. The main thrust is the need for individual healthcare consumers to shoulder more financial responsibility when deciding what type of coverage and benefits they want to avail for themselves and their dependents. Even employers subscribe to the view that if employees have the power to manage their own health insurance coverage, they take greater responsibility for their health in accordance with their healthcare spending.
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More people are shopping online today – be it consumer goods, electronics, and clothes. Does this also include health insurance? Definitely! Online insurance shopping websites are increasing every month. Some of these sites are just bait websites – these sites will take your personal information and then sell them to one or more insurance agents. These insurance agents will purchase this data from companies like these for about $10-$30 each. It is a numbers game for these salesmen and a guaranteed revenue source for these online brokerages. Before you know it, multiple agents are calling you and requesting appointments to meet you.
by: Christine Zafra
There are about 45 million Americans who are not insured, and among those 45 million, about a little over 1/3 die of a rather wasteful death. Their deaths could have been prevented if they only received the right amount of medical assistance.
Bad healthcare system can result to dwindling economic implications.
1. The rising costs of premiums put unwanted strains on jobs, businesses and wages;
2. Less efficient workforce is the result of ineffective healthcare;
3. Increasing public health expenses is a serious cause of financial challenges;
4. Health care is a vital piece of the puzzle of economic safekeeping.
Photo taken from http://erichamilton.pbwiki.com
By year end of 2006, the number of uninsured Americans increased by 2.1 million which brings the total number of uninsured non-elderly Americans to 46.5 million. With employer based coverage dropping and premium payments rising, many Americans of different income levels are caught in a bind. Medicaid and State Childrens Health Insurance Program may help to cover lower income children who lost access to employer based coverage; the same cannot be said with those belonging to middle income families where Medicaid and SCHIP is in short supply. Majority of the increase in uninsured children come from the income levels between 200 percent and 399 percent of the federal poverty level.
Leaders in the community recognized the rising number of uninsured residents that cannot avail of traditional health insurance. In an effort to arrive at a solution, health care providers, business leaders and community groups were involved in the process. Together they came up with a health care plan that would benefit the working people and the indigent. Residents can avail of this until such time that their economic condition improves and can move to private health insurance.
This innovative step helped provide effective health insurance coverage to those who were previously uninsured. This program also included coverage for families with children.
Source: aspe.hhs.gov
The Department of Defense is offering Tricare Prime to active duty members, retirees and their families. This is the equivalent of the civilian Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). Qualified active member military personnel are encouraged to take advantage of this program although enrollment is optional. Tricare Prime will provide effective health insurance coverage at a lesser cost and with wider coverage.
The program offers optional coverage to those stationed in remote areas. This will ensure that they will be getting the best health insurance possible at any given time. Beneficiaries enrolled in the program can avail of priority access to health care at military treatment facilities.
Source: militaryfinance.umuc.edu
It’s a ray of light amidst the looming doom and gloom of the global financial crisis is the news that recently terminated workers will still get some healthcare benefits under the recent economic stimulus package of President Barack Obama.
A provision in the recently enacted economic stimulus package that would provide federal subsidies to help cover the cost of health insurance premiums under COBRA will make the program more affordable and accessible, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the provision, workers involuntarily terminated between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, and whose annual incomes do not exceed $125,000 for individuals or $250,000 for families qualify for subsidies to cover 65% of the cost of health insurance premiums under COBRA for as long as nine months.
Read the full story here.
This is finally, good news amidst the seemingly overwheming odds stacked against many American workers, especially those who have recently been laid off and are wondering and worrying about their future. This gives newly laid-off people easier access to state health care plans which are helpful in emergencies and those who need constant trips to the doctor. We hope that the stimulus package pays off even more for these workers – and for everybody for that matter – in the long run.
The millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and the millions more expected to fall victim to this economic recession are going to take a lot of muscle to handle, maybe a bit too much for the Health care system. Public health care has undergone revamp after revamp but with the strain that is currently being placed on it, more funding would be needed to add capacity. More and more people are going on day by day without proper health insurance and with more people opting for out-patient home treatment rather than stay in hospital are on the rise. Chronic disease accounts for 75% of all health care costs and this being the case, the new administration must have a quick way to provide much needed funding for the system to continue working.
Most private health care policies are too expensive and yet the gap where most Americans are now, not poor enough yet not rich enough is a target for the incoming administration. Just hope the solution comes in force, enough to bolster the capacity and abilities of the current health care system.