I would like to call health insurance the Achilles heel of the home practice of law, but the truth of the matter is that health insurance is the Achilles heel of life in general. It negatively effects every employer, big and small, and every single person in this country. Not much of it is good.
Most solos and carpet commuters find double digit increases in health insurance covering not only in regard to routine percentage increases, but increases due to age and health each year as well. I turn 50 in February. As a birthday gift, I can expect a HUGE premium increase. Annual deductibles keep rising. More concerning is the real threat of losing your insurance should you be incapacitated for an extended period of time and cannot earn money - read pay premiums.
Of course the insurance industry has a solution -- MORE INSURANCE? The amount of insurance and the costs of insurance is back breaking for most of us.
After my mortgage payment, insurance is my largest expenses for me and my family.
There is some good news, but not much. According to The New York Times the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums has ONLY increased 6.1 percent this year as opposed to 7.7 percent last year.
Because doctor and hospital costs continue to rise at an even faster rate, the modest slowdown in insurance inflation mainly reflects cutbacks in coverage by many health plans, which have found ways to make employees pay more for their care. Industry experts said that without those measures, premium costs would have risen by 9 percent or more.
The total average annual cost for family coverage premiums rose to $12,106. This represents well in excess of a trillion dollars right out of consumer's pockets, yet we are told we cannot afford some type of universal insurance coverage, that would keep solos and the self-employed covered even during hard times?
Health costs has increased 78 percent since 2001, more than four times as fast as prices and wages.
Comments