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https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/health-insurance-premiums-surge-5804316/


Health insurance premiums surge
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By Emma W. Thorne, Editor at LinkedIn News
Updated 4 hours ago


Health insurance premiums have risen sharply since the pandemic, up 7% for families over just the past year, Bloomberg reports, citing KFF survey data. It now costs an average of nearly $24,000 to insure a family under an employer-sponsored health plan, and the price of individual coverage has increased at about the same rate. The jump is thanks in large part to high inflation. What's not yet clear: whether these price hikes are a temporary aftereffect of the pandemic, or if they represent the new normal.

An estimated 153 million Americans get insurance coverage through their employers, with the employers paying an average of 71% of the cost.
Premium contributions for both employers and employees have ballooned about 20% over the last five years.
Household net worth jumped 37% from 2019 to 2022, according to the Federal Reserve.

I've said it for years on end. People don't realize what companies pay for health insurance for the employees.

Yet people complain about having to pay $70 a paycheck for coverage.

They should try being self employed. I am already planning to reduce my coverage because they jack up prices every year. And I have only 2 choices of ins companies in my zip code. They have no competition to force them to be reasonably priced.

I realize it.. I write the check and it is significant if you have employees nearing retirement and not quite eligible for Medicare.

Our company's health insurance increased 30% this year alone. The company is spending about $950 per employee with dental per employee. brutal.

I never understood why dental is considered separate from health insurance, or more like an add on. Strange.

It’s almost like if we could get rid of the insurance middlemen maybe the rates would go down. Like maybe if we had a system in place that negotiated prices down, universally, we could be better off. I think other countries do something similar….?…. Like most other first world countries do this if I recall correctly. I mean I think there’s likely a system we could copy where insurance middlemen aren’t making medical decisions, deciding whether or not to pay for the plan of care that your doctor comes up with…. A system where insurance middlemen CEO’s aren’t denying you care while they make millions and millions of dollars in salaries…. While our rates keep going up….Hmmmmm I wonder….
But Murika… we probably have the best system in place. Probably shouldn’t even consider any other options really. Who am I kidding?

That is not a good idea. There is still a bill to be paid. At least workers' pay for their own bill in today's system. You want workers to pay for theirs and other people's bills. That is just not smart.

I agree, at least for basic coverage. Dental health impacts overall health. Basic things like exams, fillings, pull a tooth, that should be a part of health insurance.

I can understand having add on coverage for things like crowns, orthodontics, root canals. It can be argued those are somewhat cosmetic in nature.

Status quo is really probably the best. You’re right. Who was I kidding? Health care should continue to be the number one cause of family debt. I mean. Sorry for suggesting otherwise. Rugged individualism is the Murikan way. We should definitely keep the status quo. Matter of fact, I should leave nursing and go into the insurance business. It’s really where the money is. And that’s what’s important to me. Money. Screw my neighbor. lol. Loser probably deserves the cancer and all the bills that come with it. What a jerk, that guy and his stupid kids. Should have planned better for leukemia. Weak arse gene pool. Hope he goes broke. That’ll teach him.

They’re ’wealth bones’. If you’re wealthy you get to keep them. If not… well you should have planned better. Stupid poor Murikan.

Wow!!! That was quite the rant! There are reasons why people work. They want to provide for their families. They want nice things, they want to travel, they want to have good insurance. There are plenty of jobs in this country that provide those things. We just have a segment of the population that have no desire to work and get the benefits that come to those that work. No one wants them to get sick. No one laughs when they do get sick. But everyone gets sick, and everyone has a responsibility to be prepared for sickness. The segment of the population that chooses to not work should not expect those that work to bail them out. They have a part that they must play and that is to be productive in society. There are other avenues to seek help but government assistance that put more burden on taxpayers should not be that avenue.

Your suggestion sounds great until you realize the replacement for the middleman you're talking about is our government. Our system is broken, but you want to hand control over to them. You'd just be trading greed for gross incompetence.

Like I said. Status quo is best. It’s working great. A 7% increase this year. Another next year. In a few short years each insurance CEO will be able to afford another yacht to pull behind their current yacht. Maybe have a small helicopter to travel between the two. Wouldn’t want them to go without.

Are you surprised? People hate the costs of the current system as we see here but hate any solution to fix or repair it. Republicans are even fighting we negotiate prescription prices with the pharmaceutical industry to cut down on medicare costs paid by our government. It seems they hate paying retail for anything themselves but when it comes to our government paying retail for pharmaceuticals they're all for it.

As Day of the Dawg stated we should prepare for sickness. My stepmother should have prepared for multiple myeloma. She should have put enough money aside during her working years to afford the $7000 a month injections that could see her live a longer life. I guess she didn’t plan ahead well enough. She doesn’t deserve the shots she didn’t save for. She won’t get them because of this. It’s her fault. It’s not my, yours, or anyone else’s responsibility to lend a hand. Or to legislate for a better system.
Murika.

I think you're dealing with a rather extreme subset example. The wider problem here is people like Portland's step-mom, and I think the bigger question is should someone who is working and already paying out the rear-end for health insurance, risk bankruptcy because they come down with things like cancer, or get slammed in a hit-and-run, or experience a heart attack, ALS, MS, etc. I would bet the prevalency of that is much greater than the "deadbeat" example you are bringing up. If anything, with systems like Medicaid in place, you can argue the problem is far greater to middle class families that have their own health insurance. That's the fallout risk.

Plus, if I were to extrapolate out your argument about not being burdened by others, I work for the DoD, so I have pretty high premiums, but my coverage is great. However, there is a wide pool of us, and here I am, 40 years old, good blood metrics (at least on non-stressful days), 15% bodyfat, exercises 6 days a week, and my wife and kids are also in great shape. We typically have to scramble at the end of the year to figure out what to spend our FSA on. Now, there are others who pay for my insurance plan that I essentially subsidize. People who are over the age of 60, BMI over 30, etc. People younger than me who are in the prime of their life could make that argument as well, and even include me in the "subsidy" group. Should I make the argument that I should be paying less and they should be paying more because they are not taking care of themselves and I am?

If anything, I think we should all agree at the baseline level and agree the system as is, is broken.

In Canada, they have govt insurance yet 2/3 of Canadians have private insurance.

Role of private health insurance: Private insurance, held by about two-thirds of Canadians, covers services excluded under universal health coverage, such as vision and dental care, outpatient prescription drugs, rehabilitation services, and private hospital rooms. In 2015, approximately 90 percent of premiums for private health plans were paid through employers, unions, or other organizations under a group contract or uninsured contract (by which a plan sponsor provides benefits to a group outside of an insurance contract). In 2017, private insurance was estimated to account for 12 percent of total health spending.


https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/canada

Yes Canada has a minimum base line health insurance. If you want what some refer to as "Cadillac Coverage" they can opt to pay the difference and get it. It's a fraction of what Americans pay for health insurance.

Many in America who work and those on medicare have every similar types of insurance as that baseline Canadian coverage. Also their health care coverage does not include prescription drugs. That's why the percentage of Canadians with addition health insurance is so high. But premiums to cover prescription drugs alone is very cheap. To compensate for that Canada negotiates drug prices for their country to keep the cost of prescription drugs very low. Which is one of the reasons American citizens who live in the north cross the border into Canada for the sole purpose to purchase prescription drugs.

It's kind of an odd situation. If you bring up the idea of giving Cadillac coverage to everyone people complain that it's a waste of money and not everyone deserves that. they will trll you that things like optional surgery should not be covered. If a nation provides less than that people will claim it's somehow proof that their system doesn't wok. It's a damned of you do, damned f you don't situation.

Healthcare is only for the rich… this is where we are headed.

I love hearing all this complaining about the rising costs of Health Insurance.

I "complain" because its pretty much a never ending feedback loop. Insurance prices go up -> Healthcare industry charges more -> Insurance prices go up -> Healthcare industry charges more. They're in it together for profit. If it was sane, I wouldn't mind paying for it. As it is, it's a racket. Treatment over cures. Treatments that cause side effects that require more treatments. Pushing pills over actually treating patients and figuring out causes. Kickbacks galore.

The whole employer paid health insurance scam is a throwback to when companies paid people decently and pensions were a thing. Rampant greed has all but destroyed everything from wages, pensions, and reasonable healthcare premiums enjoyed during that era. I don’t see how these draconian desires for company provided insurance help anyone moving forward. Insurance companies have been hellbent on making insurance unaffordable to the lower middle class since Obama made them cover pre-existing conditions. At the end of the day, either the government steps in, or insurance and healthcare will continue to spiral out of control. I don’t have an answer, but I damn sure can see the status quo is not a solution. Anyone touting the existing system as a good fit can obviously still afford the out of pocket expenses. There are many working families that can’t even afford premiums, let alone additional out of pocket expenses. Add that to the higher longevity of the oldest generations still living, with boomers now adding to that group, and no matter which way you slice it, we’re all screwed. Well, unless your bank account has the staying power for the long haul.

Sadly, it'd likely be greedy, gross incompetence then.

So you'd need to also legislate some "civilian" oversight and transparency.

I'm really starting to believe a more mixed economy is the way to go. Health related industries shouldn't be run for profit. Nationalize them and set strict limits on salaries. If the people are in it for the money, I probably don't want them in it.

It's doubtful it'll ever happen. Too much money ("power") involved. I doubt any politician would have the cojones to even suggest it.

I'll probably just keep trying to focus on the prevention side, and give both industries as little as possible. Unfortunately, agriculture/food systems are right there with them in the profit over health game.

Health insurance companies have employees. Like any other company today they have to pay more to keep them. They have doctor’s, pharmacy, claims adjusters, customer service. Prices go up. And handing this dumpster fire over to the current government. LOL…They can’t even govern simple solutions with the dum mass maga Goper’s on the hill holding us all hostage.

And to answer the question why dental and vision is separate from std health insurance, besides gouging us, they have completely different provider structures. Such as eye wear providers, dentures mfg. and their own practice insurance is under different standards. But your health insurance should cover any dental work or eye damage operations if caused by an accident.