[…] People who buy their own health insurance must pay the whole bill, every month. When it’s time for their rate increase, there’s no employer shouldering part of the burden. The option to continue or drop coverage is there every month when it’s time to pay the premium… and if it comes to a decision between the rent or the health insurance, it’s easy to understand how a healthy person might opt to go uninsured.
Group Health
Reform Needed, But No Consensus On The Details
[…] We’ll have to wait and see what congress comes up with next week during their summit with the president, but there’s no way they’re going to make something out of nothing. In order to provide health insurance for everyone, we’ll either have to give up some freedoms (in the form of a mandate requiring everyone to carry coverage) or pay a little extra in taxes or premiums.
Mandates And Health Insurance Premiums
[…] We cannot continue to just tack on more mandates that increase health insurance benefits without addressing the inevitable premium increases that will follow. We absolutely need to address the problem of people facing staggering bills when a medical condition is not covered at all by their health insurance, but if we continue to add mandates without looking for ways to bring down costs, we’re only going to push more people into being uninsured.
Cadillac Tax Could Impact Non Cadillac Plans Too
[…] But setting a flat dollar amount above which a plan will be taxed seems ill-advised. It doesn’t really do a good job of weeding out health insurance plans that truly have too many bells and whistles, and it wrongly penalizes people who live in areas where health care costs are higher than average, or companies with a disproportionate number of older workers.
Health Insurance Might Be Less Expensive Than You Think
Gary VanderArk and Gretchen Hammer, president and executive director of the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, have written an opinion piece for the Denver Post about how health care reform will benefit the people of Colorado. I agree with their analysis – there will be a lot positive changes once health care reform takes effect, especially for low-income Coloradans and those who are currently uninsured […]
HSA Helps To Balance Emergency Savings With Investing
[…] The number of people with HSA qualified plans has been steadily increasing over the last few years, and the plans are very popular with our Colorado clients who purchase their own health insurance. For anyone who doesn’t want to have to choose between investing and saving for a medical emergency, HSAs are a perfect fit.
Why Health Care Reform Is Important
[…] Basically, we can’t have it both ways. If we want smaller government, we have to accept that it comes with fewer regulations. And that means more control in the hands of industry and less in the hands of consumers. If we want regulation over things like premium increases and pre-existing condition limitations, we have to accept that it means more government intervention. In the case of health care and health insurance, we’ve obviously got some flaws in our current system. In some states, a person without access to an employer-sponsored health insurance policy cannot get coverage at all. That is a problem any way you look at it.
Yes, some of the problems stem from personal irresponsibility (although hopefully mandatory health insurance will help to address this issue). But some of the problems are built into the health care system, and that is why reform in the shape of government intervention is such an important task. Because a consumer versus an industry isn’t really a fair match-up.
Premiums In The Individual Market
[…] I think that perhaps the WSJ article confused average group health insurance premiums with those in the individual market. Under current law, which allows for medical underwriting in most states, individual health insurance is significantly less expensive than group coverage – for those who can qualify based on medical history. If we end up with reform that adds additional mandatory coverage (like maternity care) to all individual policies and requires coverage to be guaranteed issue without mandating that everyone be part of the insurance pool, we might well end up with premiums for individual policies that are similar to what was mentioned in the WSJ article. But for now, individual health insurance premiums aren’t even close to that amount.
Not All States Have A Guaranteed Issue Option
[…] High risk pools are definitely better than nothing, but they don’t solve all insurance problems for people who have pre-existing conditions, and they don’t exist at all in some states. One of the aims of reform ought to include truly making health insurance available – in all states – to all applicants who want to purchase it. If we make all health insurance policies guaranteed issue (without also significantly expanding the pool of healthy insureds via a strong mandate), we’ll likely see higher costs for all insureds. But a good start would be to make sure that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to at least one guaranteed issue health insurance policy (and no, discount plans and limited benefit policies don’t count).
Chamber Of Commerce Short On Solutions
The Chamber of Commerce has been vehemently opposed to the health care reform bills that have been debated in the House and Senate this year, so it isn’t much of a surprise to see that they are raising money to pay an economist who can “prove” that the proposed reform would increase unemployment and harm the US economy […]
HB1355 Now In Effect For All Small Groups In Colorado
[…] Critics are questioning why insurers keep bringing up HB1355, as the trend in national health care reform these days is towards guaranteed issue health insurance without underwriting – which is what HB 1355 was all about. But while HB1355 was beneficial to groups with unhealthy members, the majority of small groups in Colorado had a discount before HB1355 took effect. And if those groups are unable to afford their new, higher rates, they can opt to cancel their coverage – which leads to higher prices for groups that remain covered. On a national level, as far as individual health insurance is concerned, HB1355 should be considered a warning sign. Getting rid of medical underwriting is the right, and fair, thing to do. But not if people can come and go as they please in the insurance system. We’ve seen what the impact will be on premiums if guaranteed issue coverage takes effect without a strong mandate requiring people to carry health insurance. I think this is why insurers are still bringing up HB1355. It’s impacting all small groups in Colorado now – there’s no more putting it off. And significant rate hikes for healthy groups should serve as a warning for what we’ll likely see in the individual market if reform passes without a way to make sure that everyone is part of the insurance pool.
Colorado Premiums Rising Faster Than National Average
Across the US, employers will see a 9% increase in health insurance premiums next year. But in Colorado, the increase will be an average of 11.8%. The Lockton Group has released its 2010 Colorado Employer Benefits Survey Report, and it indicates that Colorado will see bigger premium increases than the country as a whole. This puts Colorado businesses at a disadvantage in terms of direct operating expenses, as health insurance makes up a large portion of business overhead. It also makes it harder for Colorado businesses to compete for the best employees, since premium increases are being passed along to employees in the form of higher premiums and fewer benefits. Not surprisingly, Colorado businesses are much less likely to offer pricey HMOs than they were a decade ago (32% now, versus 89% in 2000), and far more of them are offering HSA qualified, high deductible health insurance policies (which have lower premiums) for their employees (27% now, versus only 3% in 2003).
Colorado residents tend to be healthier than the average American. We’re thinner, and have lower incidence of hypertension and diabetes than most of the rest of the country. So why would health insurance rates be rising faster here than in the rest of the country? My guess is that it has something to do our higher-than-average percentage of the population without health insurance. 17.2% of Colorado residents are uninsured, compared with national numbers that tend to be in the 15 – 16% range. When uninsured patients are treated by our health care providers (emergency rooms are a good example of this), the providers have to recoup their losses somehow. This usually translates into higher reimbursement rates being negotiated with health insurance companies. The insurance companies pass on their higher costs to customers in the form of higher premiums and/or reduced benefits. […]
Health Insurance Premiums And The Public Option
David Williams has written an insightful article about how big business concerns about a public health insurance option might be overly dramatic. I do understand the concerns that business owners have, since they believe that a public option will lead to costs being pushed onto private health insurance carriers, who in turn would charge higher premiums. There is no doubt that businesses have felt the sting of rising health insurance premiums for years now. In Colorado, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose by almost 87% between 2000 and 2009, while wages increased by only 20.5% over those years. Employees are increasingly seeing higher premiums deducted from their pay, combined with higher deductibles and copays. But employers still pay the lion’s share of many employees’ health insurance premiums, and the prospect of even higher premiums isn’t likely to sit well with them […]
Health Insurance Premiums And Age
How much should age play a part in determining health insurance premiums? That’s a question that lawmakers are debating, and one that might require an answer that is more strategic than it is fair. In general, older people have higher health care bills than younger people. Because of their lower claims, younger people currently pay much lower premiums for health insurance than older people. But they continue to be the most uninsured segment of our population.
In 2007, the Lewin Group released a report for the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Reform. It showed that 38.7% of Colorado residents age 19 – 24 were uninsured. This was far more than the next highest category (27.1% of people age 25 – 34 were uninsured). Several factors contribute to the high percentage of young people who are uninsured. They tend to be healthy, and thus aren’t as likely to see the value in health insurance. They tend to work in entry-level jobs that aren’t as likely to provide health insurance benefits. And they usually have lower incomes than older workers, making health insurance – even if it is cheaper for them – harder to afford […]
Colorado Senator Morgan Carroll On Health Insurance
Colorado state senator Morgan Carroll has written a very persuasive article about why we should end gender-based pricing in the individual health insurance market. I agree that it makes more sense to average premiums across the entire population, but I also understand that doing so would mean a rate increase for men to offset the rate decrease for women. […]
Why Mandatory Health Insurance Makes Sense
[…] no matter how careful we are, we never really know what is around the bend when it comes to our health. Accidents can happen to even the healthiest people. Freak illnesses can strike otherwise healthy people. And when these situations arise for people who are uninsured, the cost is eventually borne by those who have health insurance.
Cooperatives And The Colorado Health Insurance Market
[…] One of the criticisms of the private health insurance industry is that there isn’t much real competition. Proponents of the co-op idea believe that co-ops would increase competition and thus drive down costs. I’m sure that this is the case in some markets, but here in Colorado we have a pretty robust health insurance market, with lots of companies competing with each other. […]
Tax Breaks And Health Insurance Premiums
There is no reason why employees who get health insurance through their employer should get a tax break, while those who purchase individual health insurance don’t. Not only does the employer gets to deduct the premiums as a business expense, but the employees are not taxed on the value of the health insurance either. […]
Anthem Blue Cross And Boulder Chamber Offer New Health Insurance
[…] This is a big step forward for health insurance. Boulder is a great place to start something like this, as residents there do utilize alternative health care a bit more than the average Colorado resident. But over the years, we’ve had inquiries from people all over the state who are looking for a health insurance policy that will allow them to utilize alternative care. […]
Some People Already Pay Too Much Of Their Own Costs
[…] I know that a lot of our clients in Colorado request HSA qualified plans, mainly because the premiums tend to be lower. But the perspective probably looks a whole lot different if you’re not only funding your own HSA and paying for your own high deductible health insurance, but also facing the prospect of meeting that deductible year after year.
Colorado Senate Bill 88 Signed Into Law
I missed this news last week, but apparently I wasn’t the only one: Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 88 into law last Monday, granting dental and health insurance benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian state employees. Even the bill’s sponsors didn’t know until after the fact that it had been signed by the governor. […]
Gay Marriage And Health Insurance Benefits
I am not sure where to begin dissecting the logic in RNC Chairman Michael Steel’s recent attempt to sway public opinion on gay marriage. He is trying to turn gay marriage into an economic issue by maintaining that it will hurt profits for businesses if they have to provide health insurance benefits to partners of gay employees. […]
Hard To Please Everyone With A Single Health Plan
[…] There really is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to health insurance. In terms of health care reform, unless someone just starts handing out free health care (without tax increases or premiums…), it will be tough to get people to agree on a single plan, or even a handful of coverage options. […]
Many Laid Off Workers Not Getting COBRA Assistance
[…] People who worked for a company that went out of business or stopped offering health insurance won’t qualify, because there won’t be a health insurance policy for them to opt to continue via COBRA. In addition, people who were laid off from small businesses might not qualify if their state doesn’t have a “mini-COBRA” law allowing these workers to continue coverage […]
Stimulus Aims To Help Laid Off Workers Retain Health Insurance
[…] The number of Americans without health insurance is already way too high. And since most people get their health insurance from an employer, the rising unemployment numbers were sure to drive the number of uninsureds higher. Hopefully the stimulus bill will help to mitigate the problem for at least the rest of this year.