I don't understand why the media doesn't go after the insurance industry with all guns blazing
. Why is the insurance industry seemingly so exempt from the intense scrutiny of the media...makes me CRAZY.
The insurance industry is bad, but their entire budgets only account for 1-3% of all money taken is as premiums. Blaming insurance companies for the cost of healthcare is like blaming local gas station owners for the price of gas. The real problem with insurance is that it keeps the market from working. Most consumers cannot tell you how much an office visit with their doctor costs, how much their monthly prescription costs, or how much their hospital charges for a level 2 outpatient surgery. Many people have the attitude that they should utilize the heck out of their insurance because it's so expensive, and it's someone else's money. The complete reliance on a thrid party payor is the biggest factor driving up healthcare costs, and since we as a people aren't demanding Healthcare Spending Accounts and high-deductible indemnity policies we only have ourselves to blame.
Of course, physician reimbursements have remained stagnant since 1996 when adjusted against the CPI. Insurance companies are limited to a percentage of premium dollars for operating budgets and profits. It's the big corporate hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that have been driving the skyrocketing costs of medical care for the past 10 years. They have lobbyists that keep Medicare from imposing a fee schedule on their products.
I used to have a great PP slide to illustrate this point...two pie charts representing healthcare spending in 1995 and 2005. The one representing 1995 was kind of small showing a little sliver slice for insurance, one-fifth to drugs, and roughly equal shares of the remainder going to providers and hospitals. The 2005 pie was much larger, still the sliver for insurance which was bigger only because the pie was larger, 15% of the pie went to providers, 40% to hospitals, and 58% to drugs.
I think the near-term future will bring about much change, though I'm not sure how, exactly. Baby Boomers will be the greatest group of votes to target. They will be emptying the coffers of Social Security, into which they paid. (not blaming them -- they deserved to get what they paid) This large group of elderly people will be needing the greatest amount of healthcare, more than any other group in history. Not all of the baby boomers are wealthy, and many will either have no health insurance or they will rely on the gov't. Medicaid will not be able to provide enought $$$ to keep them going. It is my belief that the politricktions will have to cater to this group in order to get elected. We can also expect our current system of voting to change, as these people grwo older and are not able to get to the polls. Absentee voting sounds great in theory, but the system won't be able to handle such a large number of people voting absentee.
The baby boomers will probably bring about some big changes to healthcare. As they retire, they will be required to move to Medicare primary and if they keep insurance from their employer it will be scondary. Most will have to purchase a supplement to Medicare. This year, the average Medicare reimbursement for a typical office visit (99212) is $33.18. It costs more to get a haircut with a good stylist. Medicare pays $5400 to a surgical team (5 people for 3 hours, minimum) to perform open heart surgery. As more and more people go to Medicare, it will no longer be possible for doctors to make a decent living. A practice that has 20% Medicare patients sees it as a charitable service and duty to see them. As the Medicare population swell, the better doctors will begin limiting the number of Medicare patients they will accept. As baby boomers begin to realize that they don't have access to top quality medical care, they will revolt.
Just wrote a check for sarafunn's Cobra insurance....$331.00 a month.
(She went off our insurance because she turned 25) She just received an email from Mr. K asking her to look into UT health insurance.
If she's healthy and not ready for babies, you guys are better off with a high deductible individual policy!
