The $4,284 Monthly Premium

The title to this post is the title to an article at Consumer Reports. You would enjoy the article. The following excerpt is a sample of the exciting information you'll get.

"Companies also control their risk by using a maneuver known as closing a block or book of business. They stop accepting new customers in a plan, which kicks off a process known as a "death spiral."

I love the use of the word death when referring to health insurance. Enjoy the read and relax in the knowledge that insurance companies are truly working on our behalf.

Wana Buy a Car?

Consumer Reports magazine has a great series of articles about health insurance. One of the articles starts with the following.

Imagine that shopping for a new car worked like this: If you really didn't need the auto and lived two blocks from work, any dealer would sell you a car for a song. If the commute was 50 miles, much too far to walk, no one would sell you a car at any price. You wouldn't get to see a full contract until you plunked down your cash. Your monthly car payment would go up 20 to 30 percent every year, and, by the way, the steering wheel might be extra.

If you don't recognize this, thank your lucky stars but be aware that it might be short lived.

Are You Really Covered?

I thought this article Are you really covered? was very interesting. I especially enjoyed the comment following the article. Of course, the article is asking whether our health insurance covers us when we need it. I found that the article is composed of excerpts from several articles in Consumer Reports. I think we can trust the source.

Give it a read.

The Health Care Industry and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Wednesday I directed you to an article in the Health section of Consumer Reports’ (CR) web site. The article I found on the CR Internet site Health page is titled 10 medical 'gotchas'. The article the link took you to is titled Overview. As I pointed out, there are a number of other articles you could read. One is titled New drugs, big dollars. This article is about the Pharmaceutical industry. The writer calls them Drugmakers. The Pharmaceutical industry has produced drugs that significantly improve our lives and in fact I would die in a few days if I stopped taking one of the drugs produced by a Drugmaker. I believe they are a blessing but I also believe there are abuses in the industry. Excising those abuses is one of the many challenges we need to address to lower the cost of health care.

One of my Son-In-Laws works for a Pharmaceutical company so I feel very sensitive about this subject but it can’t be ignored. I’m not suggesting that we should restrict Pharmaceutical companies from marketing to their customers or making a profit but I believe that the relationship between the health care industry and the Pharmaceutical industry needs to be scrutinized. There’s another article on the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) web site titled Doctors and Drug Companies — Scrutinizing Influential Relationships by Eric G. Campbell, Ph.D. Click on the title to read the article. The article talks about the efforts to require manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices to disclose how much money they give to doctors. The money can be in the form of dinners, trips, or consulting fees.

Soon I’ll be posting an overview of another article on the NEJM web site. It’s a great article titled The Challenge of Rising Health Care Costs — A View from the Congressional Budget Office written by Peter R. Orszag, Ph.D., and Philip Ellis, Ph.D. Dr. Orszag is the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Dr. Ellis is a senior analyst at the CBO. The CBO is a nonpartisan agency that provides budgetary and economic analyses to Congress. You have to subscribe to the NEJM magazine to read the article so I can't link you to the article.

Health Insurance - Why So Expensive?

Yesterday’s post was a long one so you deserve something a little more entertaining. The link below is to an article on the Consumer Reports web site. On the left side of the page there’s a number of articles you can read that you’ll find interesting. The articles will give you a clue to why health insurance is so expensive. Enjoy the articles.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health-fitness/health-care/medical-ripoffs-11-07/overview/medical-ripoffs-ov_1.htm