by
Carl Hampton
09/29/2006
Health insurance went up 7.7 percent this
year, that's twice the rate of inflation.
Premiums have increased by 78 percent since
the year 2000 compare that to salary
increases of just 20 percent and the real
picture starts to have an impact.
Individuals are now averaging a little over
$4000 a year in premiums with American
families paying out almost $11,500 this
year. Companies offering health care
benefits now stands at 61 percent this is
down from 69 percent in 2000. It's estimated
that over 155 million Americans will get
their health care benefits from their
employers. To lower the over-all cost of the
insurance plans many companies are now
offering benefit packages with higher
deductibles. It should be noted that this
report comes out after a recent Census
reported that 1.3 million Americans where
added to the ranks of the uninsured during
2005. What becomes clear here is the long
term trend towards the decline of coverage
supplied by small businesses from their
employees.
“To working people and business owners, a
reduction in an already very high rate of
increase just means you're still paying
more” said Dr Drew Altman, president and
chief executive of the Kaiser Foundation.
Insurance companies have been under attack
recently for dumping families that build up
large medical bills. In an ongoing case in
California the state is investigating a
claim against Blue Cross who stopped
coverage for a family when it's medical
bills reached $20,000. The family have been
left with outstanding medical bills of over
$60,000. The company have accused the family
of failing to disclose in their coverage
application an undiagnosed lump on one of
the children's chins. The family say they
(or their physician) knew nothing of any
tumor when they made the application.
These types of cancellations of coverage
have now created a massive backlash towards
the insurance companies and resulted in a
number of ongoing lawsuits. The
policyholders are saying their polices were
illegally terminated which resulted in
substantial financial hardship. State
regulators are investigating and have said
they are now preparing to take action
against Blue Cross.
Something needs to be done to protect (us)
the public against these (insurance)
companies. The hardship caused when a family
is faced with these medical bills at a time
when they really need the most support is
nothing short of criminal. Having taken our
money every month for years on end they
should not have the right to terminate our
coverage. They should by law be forced to
honor the agreement they wrote and we agreed
too.
Have an opinion or a question you would like
me to answer, then write me!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
