Costs of medical insurance 11-12-03 Below is are excerpts from an article posted at Medscape about insurance costs. There are a couple things I find interesting, that I think speak to business' views concerning their employees. One, based on these numbers, it is less costly for the individual to have insurance from their company than a family. The family pays 27% of the total premium, but the individual pays 15%. Two, more and more companies are choosing plans based on price with less caring about employee satisfaction. Finally, not so much to do with employees, but, I find it interesting that business think the solution to cutting costs is to do more of what has been happening for the past 13 years, even though it is not working. What does this say about the thought that america's strength was in it's creativity? What happens when solutions to a problem that are sold to and bought buy business, which haven't worked, go unrecognized by the dissatisfied buyer as their solution to the problem? Considering that recent article on pain and employee productivity which suggests that we should now start to focus on getting the employee not to ever have pain in the work place cause it is costing money, I think we are in the final stages of the change to employees as equipment of the company, with old equipment viewed as a liability against the stock value. All we need now is to argue for accelerated depreciation on the payroll expense for all new hires. Dan Becker, DC, DABCN Prescription Drugs Seen as Major Factor Spurring Insurance Premiums Posted 11/06/2003 Introduction Private health insurance premiums increased 13.9% in 2003, according to the 2003 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust. This premium increase was the largest since 1990, and 2003 was the third consecutive year of double-digit increases. The leading factor contributing to increases in health insurance pre miums is higher prescription drug costs, cited by 61% of employers (Figure 1). Also mentioned frequently: higher spending for hospital services, 55%. While health care cost increases are not causing employers to drop coverage, most employers are passing on higher costs to employees. During the past 3 years, the amount of the premium employees pay for family coverage has increased nearly 50%, from $1619 in 2000 to $2412 in 2003. The typical family health insurance policy now costs $9068, with employers paying $6656 and employees paying $2412. Premiums for a typical single employee cost $3383, of which employees pay $508. Employers are increasingly concerned about rising health insurance costs. "Cost of the plan" was again selected for the third year in a row as the most important feature in choosing a health plan but by an increasing margin. In 2003, 80% of firms said cost was most important, up from 72% in 2001 and 73% in 1999. On the other hand, the proportion of companies for whom "measurable employee satisfaction" was a major consideration in selecting a health plan declined in importance, from 60% in 1999, to 48% in 2001, and 45% in 2003. Employers, the report concludes, do not have a high level of confidence that current market strategies can reduce premium growth. Asked what strategies might be very effective in reducing future cost growth, the most commonly identified approach was disease management (mentioned by 22% of employers), followed by consumer-driven health plans (14%), higher cost sharing (10%), and tighter managed care networks (6%). While all employers see some benefit in all of these approaches, no approach stands out from the others. Thus, the report predicts, "2004 may be another year where costs and cost sharing drift upwards, without dramatic changes in the availability of coverage in the market." http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/463621?mpid=20932&WebL ogicSession=P7Ipzv1mevqN1hBvr9WIly7vtaiNP1jquaZ5taG7CXtg0dsF CvDC|- 2147635920372342276/184161392/6/7001/7001/7002/7002/70 01/-1