Why is health insurance so expensive? There’s probably a 1,000 answers to that question. Here are some excerpts from articles I found on the Internet with some of the answers. The first is from the National Coalition on Health Care web site. The article is titled Health Insurance Cost.
The second titled How Wrong Laws Make Health Insurance Expensive was written by Conrad F. Meier and published in It's Your Health. The publication date is January 1, 2004
The first article blames the health care system and the second article blames the lawmakers. I’ve never even heard about these government regulations. Could it be the lawyers themselves, especially those that sue doctors for malpractice for 10’s of millions of dollars? Maybe it’s the fault of judges who award plaintiffs such large sums. How about…we could keep this up forever. All of the reasons mentioned are legitimate.
One big reason for the high cost of health insurance not mentioned is the number of people who aren’t insured. That’s 16% of our population. If everyone had insurance, it would spread the cost across a larger group. There’s another reason that hasn’t been mentioned. The number of people who use the health care system, don’t have insurance, and don’t pay the bill. This raises the cost of health care for everyone which raises the cost of insurance.
Well what do you think? Does that about cover it? No it doesn’t. As I said, there’s a 1,000 reasons. Two reasons mentioned above are community rating and guaranteed issue. What are community rating and guaranteed issue? Next time we’ll take a look at these.
“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.”
The second titled How Wrong Laws Make Health Insurance Expensive was written by Conrad F. Meier and published in It's Your Health. The publication date is January 1, 2004
“Health Care News, a publication of The Heartland Institute in Chicago, featured a series of monthly case studies documenting how government regulations like community rating and guaranteed issue have destroyed the individual health insurance markets in eight states, creating a large uninsured population.
The evidence shows these laws are poorly crafted and fundamentally unworkable. Such poor public policy-making explains why, for example, health insurance premiums in New York State are three times higher than in California.”
The first article blames the health care system and the second article blames the lawmakers. I’ve never even heard about these government regulations. Could it be the lawyers themselves, especially those that sue doctors for malpractice for 10’s of millions of dollars? Maybe it’s the fault of judges who award plaintiffs such large sums. How about…we could keep this up forever. All of the reasons mentioned are legitimate.
One big reason for the high cost of health insurance not mentioned is the number of people who aren’t insured. That’s 16% of our population. If everyone had insurance, it would spread the cost across a larger group. There’s another reason that hasn’t been mentioned. The number of people who use the health care system, don’t have insurance, and don’t pay the bill. This raises the cost of health care for everyone which raises the cost of insurance.
Well what do you think? Does that about cover it? No it doesn’t. As I said, there’s a 1,000 reasons. Two reasons mentioned above are community rating and guaranteed issue. What are community rating and guaranteed issue? Next time we’ll take a look at these.
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