Health Insurance

[Shooter]

No and No...the kid hasn't been born yet...and the rate went up before the medical problems. After 3 and a half months of begging for a meeting with the insurance company we finally got one.

Im not the one blaming the Obama plan...im telling you what the insurance company themselves told us....to quote "Due to Obama's healthcare policies, prepare for this to happen every year until eventually your insurance is gone completely. It will be cheaper to pay the penalty than to offer you insurance"

[CoeburnCane]

So is that really the bill's fault, or is it the Insurance's? If they're knee-jerk reacting to the bill by raising everyone's rates, isn't it them trying to get what income they can right now out of all their customers by doubling/tripling coverage costs while they can--until the market softens and alternatives have to come up to compete?

Basically, sounds like to me it's a CYA on the insurance company's part. They're bilking you while they can until you have a better alternative for health coverage--which should happen as the market opens up more under the bill. Get pissed at the greed, not the bill that's trying to govern the healthcare market in a more responsible manner...but that will take time.

R13's right about the public option. Had that been in the bill, the insurance companies could have done this, but you could have accepted the government option and left them high & dry w/their noncompetitive pricing and likely gotten by cheaper.

[pvfan]

Had people had enough sense to leave the public option in the health care bill we would have never had this problem. Sad that insurance companies continue to manipulate their clients with a product that most of us must have.

[1inStripes]

So is that really the bill's fault, or is it the Insurance's? If they're knee-jerk reacting to the bill by raising everyone's rates, isn't it them trying to get what income they can right now out of all their customers by doubling/tripling coverage costs while they can--until the market softens and alternatives have to come up to compete?

Basically, sounds like to me it's a CYA on the insurance company's part. They're bilking you while they can until you have a better alternative for health coverage--which should happen as the market opens up more under the bill. Get pissed at the greed, not the bill that's trying to govern the healthcare market in a more responsible manner...but that will take time.

R13's right about the public option. Had that been in the bill, the insurance companies could have done this, but you could have accepted the government option and left them high & dry w/their noncompetitive pricing and likely gotten by cheaper.

Is it the insurance or the hospitals that are forcing this though because hospitals are raising costs to them. Insurance companies have to make money too. Insurance really wasn't made for how it is used today. It was really designed to support people when major things happened like stays in the hospital, or surgery. Not for checkups and etc. Its been abused for a long time. I really expect most people in 3 years to be moving toward HDHP's.

[CoeburnCane]

Insurance companies have to make money too.

Ah, but you see, the insurance companies aren't raising these rates just to "get by" and barely break even--which is what your comment makes it sound like. They're raising the rates so their multi-billion $$$ profit margins stay the same or get better. They do that for now until the market softens up and they get some competition, then they've already lined their pockets for when the lean times come. BUT--until the market adjusts and more demand hits along w/some kind of competition, this will continue.

Once again, if we were going to do any health reform, it needed to be the public option b/c that would have automatically given insurance companies competition in the market place, driving prices downward.

However, without it, we just have to hope the market softens up and someone steps in with a better and/or cheaper alternative to what the bigger companies are providing. Until then, we're stuck at status quo.

[1inStripes]

With medical costs continually rising, insurance companies better have money in the bank to be able to pay off rising numbers of claims to the hospital at higher costs. What good is insurance if it doesn't have the money in the bank to do what its supposed to.

[CoeburnCane]

With medical costs continually rising, insurance companies better have money in the bank to be able to pay off rising numbers of claims to the hospital at higher costs. What good is insurance if it doesn't have the money in the bank to do what its supposed to.

When you say "do what it's supposed to", you have to remember that the definition of that varies. Does it mean money to do what you said it does? Then yes--that's it from the viewpoint of John Q Public like yourself and I. However, when the CEO's and stockholders look at "do what it's supposed to", their definition is moreso about keeping their crazy annual bonuses and making sure they make a new record profit off of their dividends.

So, which is the greater need between the two? Record profits/bonuses for those who already have enough money to do whatever they want, or actually giving healthcare coverage to people like you and I who REALLY need it?

[1inStripes]

Honestly, both. No one gets in business to lose money or just break even.

[R13]

Is it the insurance or the hospitals that are forcing this though because hospitals are raising costs to them. Insurance companies have to make money too. Insurance really wasn't made for how it is used today. It was really designed to support people when major things happened like stays in the hospital, or surgery. Not for checkups and etc. Its been abused for a long time. I really expect most people in 3 years to be moving toward HDHP's.

I disagree really. Maybe not originally designed to do that, but insurance companies realized that any sort of preventive care(check ups) is much more inexpensive that to pay for those major problems and saves a lot of money to either prevent them or catch it early. Insurance companies don't mind one bit covering for checkups and all if it saves them a ton of money in the long run.

[1inStripes]

Your right, but when health insurance was originally designed checkups and etc were not part of the deal. That didn't come along till about the mid 80s. Because of this, it is another reason why insurance has added up over the years.