DawgTalkers.net Forums Thread Like Summary - Health insurance premiums surge

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.

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.

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?

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.