Health Care Costs are Out of Control

You see it. I see it. Health care costs have spiraled out of control. I just received a new insurance bill for next month, up 33%! Why are our health insurance bills continuing to go up at astronomical rates year after year with no end in sight?

Here are some of the causes:

1) Longer approval times and higher costs to get drugs approved by the Food & Drug Administration. A recent study indicates that the cost to get one drug approved is over 10 years and costs over $ 1 Billion for testing. Drug Companies pass along the costs in terms of higher drug pricing.
2) Health care providers submit inflated bills for routine procedures hoping that the insurance companies won’t knock off most of their billing. I recently saw an imaging center submit a bill for $2,400 to the insurance company for a cat scan that took 5 minutes to perform and was told it would cost $600.00 if I paid cash. The insurance company knocked the bill down to $733.00, 22% higher than the cash price.
3) Administrative costs were up 23% at the top 5 Health Insurance Companies according to some health care industry watchdogs. What are they doing to control their costs?
4) Increasing use of emergency rooms by illegal aliens and the uninsured. These costs are passed along to the State who ultimately approves health insurance premium increases for you and me.

What can be done about this mess?

-California employers can pass along the higher premiums to their employees for only so long before they must leave the state. Either that or they can band together to bring pressure on the insurance companies.

-Self employed individuals and small companies don't have many choices. They can look for health insurance policies that have higher deductibles to keep insurance premiums lower, change to HMO’s such as Kaiser Permanente or set up Health Savings Accounts or Health Reimbursement Accounts.

-We can also support legislation aimed at controlling insurance premiums just like what occurred with auto insurance rates in 2003. A defeated California Assembly Bill 1554 proposed having all health insurance premiums and deductible changes approved by the State Insurance Commission. The bill was defeated in 2007 and 2008 after campaign money was funneled to key assemblymen and senators who blocked its passage. Election pressure is needed to break the insurance-politician connection that continues to hurt consumers.