Saturday, March 05, 2011

As health costs soar, GOP and insurers differ on cause

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their health insurance premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent.

The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking.

As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses. Republicans are seizing on the trend as evidence that the new law includes expensive features that are driving up premiums. But the insurance industry says premiums are rising primarily because of the underlying cost of care and a growing demand for it.

Across the country, premiums have more than doubled in the last decade, with smaller companies particularly hard hit in recent years, federal officials say.
Read the rest here.

5 comments:

rabidgandhi said...

Just a note,

My wife fell and had a concussion last week, which translated into an ambulance trip, three days in the hospital, X-rays, CAT scan, visits with two specialists, various medications, etc. Total cost: $35. The punchline of course is, we happen to live in a country with a functioning health care system, not the US.

Anonymous said...

Rabidgandhi, what country are you in? I'm one of the long term unemployed in the US, and our family's COBRA health benefit costs have tripled since last year. They now equal a large mortgage payment each month. We are in the process now of leaving the US for a country with more jobs and affordable health care.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Anonymous
Almost any industrialized nation has more affordable health care than the US.

In ICXC
John

rabidgandhi said...

I'm in Argentina, but like John said, its pretty much the case anywhere you go except for the world's richest country.

Anonymous said...

I have NEVER read a blog where Christians think ALL people should have health care. Usuallly, Christians think only people that work for corporations should have health care. What kind of Christian are you?