How about HALF your income, if the status quo is kept in place...
The cost of the average employer-sponsored health insurance plan (ESI) for a family will reach $24,000 in 2016. This represents an 84 percent increase over 2008 premium levels. Under this scenario, we estimate that at least half of American households will need to spend more than 45 percent of their income to buy health insurance.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Why the Cost of Failing to Fix Our Health System Is Greater than the Cost of Reform
BTW, you had your head handed to you
HERE and you never responded PC...
It's a good thing you didn't read any further PC; you weren't looking for TRUTH, you were looking for something that would support your dogma...
You picked the wrong article, organization and study...LOL!
The Quality Question
No doubt one of the reasons that quality doesn’t make it into the health care discussions as readily as coverage or cost is because of this very satisfaction: if people are happy, then there’s no problem—so why pick a fight where there need not be conflict? Health care reform is already hard enough.
But quality is a problem. Just because Americans are happy with their care, doesn’t mean that they are getting the best care—or even recommended levels of care, as determined through medical consensus.
In 2003, Elizabeth McGlynn, the associate director of RAND’s health care program, led the first national, comprehensive study on the quality of care for adults. (Read that sentence again: we didn’t have a major nation-wide study on quality until just five years ago. The Institute of Medicine did focus on medical errors in its 1999 report, “To Err is Human"; but the RAND study looked at whether doctors were following “best practice.”) Quality has clearly been an overlooked issue in health care assessments.
Maggie has touched on McGlynn's study in a previous post, but it’s worth discussing again here. Using telephone interviews and two-year medical records, McGlynn’s team assessed whether or not 13,275 participants in 12 metropolitan regions received the level of care that doctors recommend for their specific ailments (25 conditions in all, including congestive heart failure, hypertension, breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, coronary artery disease, STDs, headaches, and alcohol dependence). What they found was that, on average, patients receive just 55 percent of recommended care for their conditions. (“Recommended care” was determined by (1) poring over national guidelines and medical literature to come up with key indicators and (2) subjecting these indicators to four nine-person, multi-specialty panels, who nixed or okayed the metrics).
This proportion was remarkably consistent across different kinds of care. The authors found “little difference among the proportion of recommended preventive care provided (54.9 percent), the proportion of recommended acute care provided (53.5 percent), and the proportion of recommended care provided for chronic conditions (56.1 percent).”
In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee last month, McGlynn nicely summed up the implications of these numbers: “we spend nearly $2 trillion annually on health care and we get it right about half the time.”
The Rand Study in which you take so much joy is at best peripheral to the discussion, as you should have realized, as there no indication that the Obama plan would correct these problems in any way.
a)Medical knowledge is evolving so quickly that helping doctors keep up by delivering information on best practices would be beneficial. But telling doctors what to do for the sake of cost control in dangerous. The RAND Corporation, a nonpartisan research organization, found that often physicians did not give patients the optimal treatment for their condition. But over-treating patients was seldom the problem (only 11% of the time.) Failing to give patients a needed treatment was four times as big a problem (46% of the time.) That's why prompting doctors to do the right think will help patients but not curb spending.
Downgrading Health Care
b) Still, it remains to be seen whether certain drugs or procedures wouldnÂ’t be denied to customers under a public plan as well. In fact, the criticism from conservatives has been that a public plan would be stingy in what it would cover in an effort to control costs. We canÂ’t predict the future, but we find it unlikely that at least some denials wouldnÂ’t take place no matter who is issuing insurance.
FactCheck.org: Pushing for a Public Plan
The idea that healthcare costs are 'skyrocketing' is as bogus as most of your posts are.
1) The following is the annual growth of healthcare expenditures:
2003 8.6%
2004 6.9%
2005 6.5%
2006 6.7%
2007 6.1%
Skyrocketing? Compared to what? In 1970, it was 10.5% and in 1980 it was 13%.
Downgrading Health Care
Too bad your comprehension didn't skyrocket.
Now for a lesson in economics. Gratis.
Rather than viewing only the healthcare costs alone, consider the largest 'package' of strain on spendable income: together- housing & food & fuel & healthcare:
Taken together, the package takes up the same 53-55% as it has since 1960 That's over two and a half generations.
"By Betsy McCaughey Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., is a patient advocate, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, and a former Lt. Governor of New York State.
Downgrading Health Care
The administration has warned that soaring health spending threatens the stability of American families and the economy. These doomsday scenarios are untrue. Health care spending is increasing at more moderate rates than in previous decades. Spending increased 10.5 percent in 1970, 13 percent in 1980, and consistently less than 7 percent in each of the last five years, reaching a low of 6.1 percent a year ago. Each year since 1960, food and energy together have taken up a declining share of Americans' expenditures, while housing has taken up a steady share. This has enabled Americans to spend an increasing share of their budgets on another necessity, healthcare. These four necessities together consume the same share of American spending now (55%) as they did in 1960 (53%). As further evidence, Americans are increasing the share of their spending that goes to recreation. Moderate income families can be helped to buy health coverage with vouchers, refundable tax credits, or debit cards. That's a low risk, "fix what's broken" approach."
Let's see what else you are wrong about.
"The cost of the average employer-sponsored health insurance plan (ESI) for a family will reach $24,000 in 2016."
And you would be basing your assumption on what study of "accuracy in government estimates..."
You must love phrases like "...Under this scenario, we estimate ..."
And, more: " ...you had your head handed to you ...'
Only in your addled brain.
No better proof of liberal what-passed-for-thinking then the view that you folks always know better than the people that you are 'concerned' about.
No matter how many studies show that not only do the vast majority (80-85%) say they are pleased with their healthcare, and the view is over 90% when those who have recently had a serious illness are polled, you need to show that they really don't know what is good for them.
“…while the numbers clearly show that people are happier with their own health care than with the system as a whole, there is no dimension with which their happier than the quality of care they personally receive…a mere 15 percent complain about the quality of care they receive.”.(New England Journal of Medicine)
Health Beat: The Quality Question
The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll (June 21) finds that 83 percent of Americans are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their health care, and 81 percent are similarly satisfied with their health insurance.
They have good reason to be. If you're diagnosed with cancer, you have a better chance of surviving it in the United States than anywhere else, according to the Concord Five Continent Study. And the World Health Organization ranked the United States No. 1 out of 191 countries for being responsive to patients' needs, including providing timely treatments and a choice of doctors.
Defend Your Health Care
The need to be smarter than the rest of the proletariat is a liberal inferiority complex, but I realize that you guys are actually inferior.
So let's review.
Healthcare has not skyrocketed.
Folks by and large are happy with the current healthcare.
My head remains majestically in place.
Democrat talking points lead your around as though you have a ring through your nose.
Suggestions:
1. To reduce healthcare costs, increase the number of doctors. Obama care would do the opposite.
2. Identify the 8-10 million who need and are unable to get healthcare, and provide debit cards as is done for food stamps.
3. Drop the nonsense about declining care for pre-existing conditions, or else folks on their deathbed would take out life insurance.
4. Admit that the Obama care program is predicated on getting seniors to die.
5. Provide free lie-detector tests for Democrat politicians.
WOW PC...do you FEEL if you throw a whole bunch of bullshit against a wall it will stick or overwhelm the TRUTH? Sorry; the TRUTH: health care costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate...it has risen over 70% in the last 8 years...
AND, the overwhelming majority want health care reform AND a government option.
Most in US support govt-backed health care: poll
(AFP) – Jun 20, 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The overwhelming majority of Americans support substantial changes to the country's health care system, including a government-run health insurance option, a new opinion poll found.
The survey by The New York Times and CBS News also indicated most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance.
Eighty-five percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to the poll.
In addition, the survey found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan -- something like Medicare for those under 65 -- that would compete for customers with private insurers.
Twenty percent said they were opposed.
"That's why prompting doctors to do the right think will help patients but not curb spending." ... Are you SERIOUS PC? Can you possibly THINK about the cascading costs of doing the WRONG thing???
Study finds rapid growth in health costs hurts economic performance of US industries
Ironic, in the REAL world it is business that's suffering along with citizens, but don't let your far right wing dogma and hatred for American families sway you diatribe...In 2005, the company I was a rep for held special meetings with all employees across two states... WHY...although the company had a stellar safety record; Blue Cross & Blue Shield was raising their premium 30%. The company decided the ONLY course of action was to become self insured, lower medical coverage AND increase employee participation...
I laugh that you selectively dismiss the Rand Study...To date, 32 recipients of the Nobel Prize, primarily in the fields of economics and physics, have been affiliated with RAND at some point in their career. Yet you embrace as GOSPEL Betsy McCaughey...REALLY PC, I thought you were smarter than that. Betsy McCaughey is nothing but a hack, a mouthpiece for corporate health care...
You claim Healthcare has not skyrocketed... THEN you prove it is...what American receives a 6 - 8% raise each year, PLUS it is a compounded annually...
Facts on the Cost of Health Insurance and Health Care
Introduction
By several measures, health care spending continues to rise at a rapid rate and forcing businesses and families to cut back on operations and household expenses respectively.
In 2008, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent -- two times the rate of inflation.1 Total spending was $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4.3 TRILLION in 2017, or 20 percent of GDP.1
In 2008, employer health insurance premiums increased by 5.0 percent – two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,700.2
Experts agree that our health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, excessive administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems significantly increase the cost of medical care and health insurance for employers and workers and affect the security of families.
National Health Care Spending
* In 2008, health care spending in the United States reached $2.4 trillion, and was projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012.1 Health care spending is projected to reach $4.3 trillion by 2016.1
* Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.3
* In 2008, the United States will spend 17 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care. It is projected that the percentage will reach 20 percent by 2017.1
* Although nearly 46 million Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations, and those countries provide health insurance to all their citizens.3
* Health care spending accounted for 10.9 percent of the GDP in Switzerland, 10.7 percent in Germany, 9.7 percent in Canada and 9.5 percent in France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.4
Employer and Employee Health Insurance Costs
* Premiums for employer-based health insurance rose by 5.0 percent in 2008. In 2007, small employers saw their premiums, on average, increase 5.5 percent. Firms with less than 24 workers, experienced an increase of 6.8 percent.2
* The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $12,700 in 2008. Workers contributed nearly $3,400, or 12 percent more than they did in 2007.2 The annual premiums for family coverage significantly eclipsed the gross earnings for a full-time, minimum-wage worker ($10,712).
* Workers are now paying $1,600 more in premiums annually for family coverage than they did in 1999.2
* Since 1999, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 120 percent, compared to cumulative inflation of 44 percent and cumulative wage growth of 29 percent during the same period.2
* Health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers. Unless something changes dramatically, health insurance costs will overtake profits by the end of 2008.5
* According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States have been rising four times faster on average than workersÂ’ earnings since 1999.2
* The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 120 percent since 2000. Average out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits rose 115 percent during the same period.6
* The percentage of Americans under age 65 whose family-level, out-of-pocket spending for health care, including health insurance, that exceeds $2,000 a year, rose from 37.3 percent in 1996 to 43.1 percent in 2003 – a 16 percent increase.7
The Impact of Rising Health Care Costs
* National surveys show that the primary reason people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage.2
* Economists have found that rising health care costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage.8
* A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses.9 Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.
* A new survey shows that more than 25 percent said that housing problems resulted from medical debt, including the inability to make rent or mortgage payments and the development of bad credit ratings.10
* About 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs. 11
* A survey of Iowa consumers found that in order to cope with rising health insurance costs, 86 percent said they had cut back on how much they could save, and 44 percent said that they have cut back on food and heating expenses.12
* Retiring elderly couples will need $250,000 in savings just to pay for the most basic medical coverage.13 Many experts believe that this figure is conservative and that $300,000 may be a more realistic number.
* According to a recent report, the United States has $480 billion in excess spending each year in comparison to Western European nations that have universal health insurance coverage. The costs are mainly associated with excess administrative costs and poorer quality of care.14
* The United States spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health care system than its peer Western European nations.14
Time for Action on Reining in Health Care Costs
Policymakers and government officials agree that health care costs must be controlled. But they disagree on the best ways to address rapidly escalating health spending and health insurance premiums. Some favor price controls and imposing strict budgets on health care spending. Others believe free market competition is the best way to solve the problems. Public health advocates believe that if all Americans adopted healthy lifestyles, health care costs would decrease as people required less medical care.
There appears to be no agreement on a single solution to health careÂ’s high price tag. Many approaches may be used to control costs. What we do know is if the rate of escalation in health care spending and health insurance premiums continues at current trends, the cost of inaction will severely affect employerÂ’s bottom lines and consumerÂ’s pocketbooks.
Notes
1. Keehan, S. et al. “Health Spending Projections Through 2017, Health Affairs Web Exclusive W146: 21 February 2008.
2. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual Survey. September 2008.
3. California Health Care Foundation. Health Care Costs 101 -- 2005. 02 March 2005.
4. Pear, R., “U.S. Health Care Spending Reaches All-Time High: 15% of GDP.” The New York Times, 9 January 2004, 3.
5. McKinsey and Company. The McKinsey Quarterly Chart Focus Newsletter, “Will Health Benefit Costs Eclipse Profits,” September, 2004.
6. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual Survey. September 2008.
7. Agency for Heathcare Research and Quality. Out-of-Pocket Expenditures on Health Care and Insurance Premiums Among the Non-elderly Population, 2003, March 2006.
8. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Uninsured: A Primer, Key Facts About Americans without Health Insurance. 2004. 10 November 2004 Health Coverage & the Uninsured* - Research, Public Opinion, Facts & Analysis - Kaiser Family Foundation
9. Himmelstein, D, E. Warren, D. Thorne, and S. Woolhander, “Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy, “ Health Affairs Web Exclusive W5-63, 02 February , 2005.
10. The Access Project. Home Sick: How Medical Debt Undermines Housing Security. Boston, MA, November 2005.
11. Robertson, C.T., et al. “Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Mortgage Foreclosures,” Health Matrix, 2008
12. Selzer and Company Inc. Department of Public Health 2005 Survey of Iowa Consumers, September 2005.
13. Fidelity Investments, Press Release, 06 March 2006.
14. McKinsey Global Institute. Accounting for the Cost in the United States. January 2007
http://www.nchc.org/documents/Cost%20Fact%20Sheet-2009.pdf
