HEALTH CARE COVERAGE Continues To Rise- A MUST READ

Health coverage prices rise 4%

INSURANCE

|Chad Terhune via http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/12/business/la-fi-employer-health-costs-20120912

 

The price of health insurance provided by employers rose a moderate 4% this year, a major survey shows, but experts warn that rates may climb higher next year.

Annual insurance premiums for families increased 4%, on average, to $15,745, according to the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. That was down from a 9% hike in 2011.

 

Still, even modest increases in healthcare costs are difficult to absorb for many businesses and workers struggling to cope with a sluggish economy. Health premiums have been on an unrelenting march upward for years, and many employers have shifted more of those costs to workers.

Since 2002, U.S. health premiums have shot up 97%, three times as fast as wages and inflation nationwide, the survey found.

"It doesn't feel moderate to the average worker when healthcare is going up and wages are flat or eroding in real terms," said Drew Altman, chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation. "There is every reason to believe premiums will go up as the economy improves, but we don't know when and by how much."

The survey found that 61% of U.S. firms offered health benefits to their workers, unchanged from last year. Insurance offered by employers is the primary source of health coverage for Americans, providing benefits to nearly 150 million people. The national survey included responses from 3,326 public and private firms with three or more workers.

Employers picked up most of these medical costs. The average worker paid $4,316, or 27%, toward the $15,745 family premium, the survey found. Coverage for only the employee cost $5,615 in 2012.
Overall, U.S. healthcare spending has been growing at historically low levels in recent years, which experts have attributed to people postponing doctor visits and other medical care to avoid out-of-pocket costs during the economic downturn. Now some insurers and hospitals are starting to report an increase in medical use after years of pent-up demand.

Experts say several cost-containment efforts included in the federal healthcare law are just beginning to be implemented across the country, so it's too soon to tell whether those will help rein in rising medical costs.

"This price moderation is short term," said David Lansky, chief executive of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a nonprofit coalition that represents major employers such as Walt Disney Co. and Boeing Co. "We haven't seen a sustainable or systemic fix yet."

Insurers have faced more scrutiny of proposed rate increases under the new healthcare law, and they have to issue rebates when they don't spend a minimum amount on medical care. Tuesday, federal officials estimated those measures have saved consumers $2.1 billion.

Looking ahead to 2013, employers surveyed last month reported a 7% premium increase, on average. That may not match what employers and workers ultimately face as many businesses raise deductibles or change benefits to lower their rates.

 

A spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, said companies are "doing everything they can to keep coverage as affordable as possible for the millions of individuals, families and employers they serve."

Steve Todd, chief financial officer at Knox Attorney Services in San Diego, said that his company's premiums from Kaiser Permanente went up about 10% this year and that his insurance broker told him recently to expect a similar increase for 2013.

"Every year it gets tougher and tougher as a small company to make a profit and at the same time provide benefits to our employees," Todd said. "We are getting squeezed because the economy hasn't really recovered yet."

In response to those financial pressures, Todd said, the company offered a second, less generous health plan this year as a lower-cost option for its 200 workers.

Hollywood Sound Systems in Los Angeles received an 11% rate hike from Anthem Blue Cross last month. Shelley Harrison, the human resources manager there, said the eight-person firm has tried to mitigate the rate increases by boosting annual deductibles to $3,500 from $500 four years ago. "It's so difficult to take care of your employees and to be able to pay the bills," Harrison said.

Nationwide, 34% of covered workers have a deductible of at least $1,000 for single coverage, up from 10% in 2006, the survey said.

In other findings, more young adults secured coverage through their parents' insurance at work under a provision of the federal Affordable Care Act. About 2.9 million young adults up to age 26 are covered as dependents on employer plans, up from 2.3 million a year ago.

 

 

 

 

Know The Hidden Costs Of Health Insurance

Many Insurance Plans Heap Healthcare Costs on Consumers

Plans with lower premiums burden members with potentially crushing costs.

By Steve Sternberg, Chris I.  VIA http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-insurance/articles/2012/10/03/many-insurance-plans-heap-healthcare-costs-on-consumers

October 3, 2012 RSS Feed Print

A first-ever U.S. News analysis of nearly 6,000 health insurance plans marketed to individuals and families reveals that many of the consumers who enroll in these plans may confront budget-wrecking out-of-pocket costs that deplete their savings. Large numbers of plans severely limit coverage for such services as prescription drugs, maternity coverage, mental health treatment, and rehabilitation therapy. To help consumers make more informed choices, U.S. News today launched Best Health Insurance Plans, an interactive consumer tool, to help those who are not covered by an employer or a government plan find a health plan that best meets their individual or family needs.

Each of the plans in the U.S. News database was scored and assigned a rating of one to five stars; plans available to both individuals and families were rated separately for each. A plan's score depended on completeness of coverage in as many as two dozen benefit categories and subcategories—hospitalization, outpatient surgery, name-brand prescription drugs, and emergency room visits are just a few examples—and how much of the cost consumers have to pay. A one-star plan may cover a limited set of services, a broader array of services but less of their cost, or both. A five-star plan provides a larger, thicker security blanket. (See How We Rate Health Insurance Plans.)

Plans are regulated by states and sold within their borders, so U.S. News took the additional step of comparing the characteristics of plans available in different states. Massachusetts plans consistently offered broad coverage and protection against a potential flood of medical bills. All 67 plans available to individuals received four or five stars. New York (94 percent) was next on the list, followed by Washington, D.C. (85 percent), Maryland (76 percent), and Virginia (75 percent). The states with the smallest proportion of four or five-star plans were Washington (4 percent), Alaska (10 percent), Wisconsin (15 percent), and South Carolina (19 percent), though several states including Alaska had few plans available for analysis.

The plans U.S. News rated, which are those sold to individuals and families who have no access to employer or public coverage, currently cover some 14 million people. That number could very well double once the major provisions of health reform's Affordable Care Act take effect in 2014, according to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, because the ACA mandates that everyone must have health insurance or pay a penalty. Millions of people who now can't afford insurance or who can't qualify for coverage because they have preexisting conditions will be able to purchase coverage through state or federal exchanges that offer a wide selection of plans with standard categories of benefits and clearly stated costs.

If consumers choose plans that fail to meet their needs, it may be because they're confused. Compared with group and government plans, which often provide more structured benefits, individual plans have long been difficult to decipher, experts say, and have offered a patchwork of benefits, costs and coverage for medical services and products. "This makes it very hard to compare value," says Roland McDevitt, director of healthcare research for Towers Watson, a global benefits consultant. That, too, is changing under the ACA. Just this month, insurers had to begin providing simpler and more complete explanations of plans' benefits and costs.

U.S. News spent several months working with data obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency that summarizes plan coverage and pricing on a consumer page but does not rate or rank plans against each other. The analysis posed many challenges, including constant flux in the number of plans available in the federal database. That is because of incomplete reporting and because health insurers periodically create new plans and stop enrolling applicants in established ones.

The Best Health Insurance Plans ratings also analyzed the monthly premium consumers are quoted when they apply. The quoted premium represents the lowest amount charged to an extremely healthy applicant; the final figure can be far higher. Our analysis showed that about one-third of the plans charged at least 25 percent of applicants a higher premium than they were originally quoted. About 1 plan in 10 charged a higher-than-quoted premium for more than half of applicants. Until health reform goes into full effect, the premiums reported by health insurers to CMS are no guarantee of what insurers will ultimately charge for coverage. After the law is fully enacted, insurers will be required to meet certain cost standards, including limits on rate increases.

Quoted premiums were sorted into five tiers, from lowest to highest. The median for individual plans was $284 per month and, for family coverage, almost exactly double that at $577. Premiums for some plans, however, were nearly four times higher. All premiums were calculated from the CMS database using weighted averages drawn from insurers' pricing information.

Research into purchasing behavior shows that health insurance shoppers are strongly influenced by the size of the monthly premium. It is a regular outlay, like a mortgage or rent payment, so weighing its impact on one's monthly budget makes sense—to a point. An individual or family that opts for an easily affordable premium can be blindsided in the event of traumatic injury or major illness. A plan that may seem like a good choice because it has a lower monthly premium may require consumers to pay much more out-of-pocket every time they need medical care. "You need to dig deeper to find out why a cheaper plan is cheaper," says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Plans are often far from transparent about how much consumers must pay for medical services. The term "out-of-pocket maximum," supposedly meaning the most a consumer will have to pay for medical services, is misleading; 90 percent of plans exclude some combination of deductible, copays (upfront fees paid for service), and coinsurance (the consumer's share of the charges). Nearly 100 plans exclude all three. A plan member with average coverage who needs surgery could end up paying thousands more than their out-of-pocket cap.

Pollitz advises starting with the deductible, the amount you must pay out of pocket before most coverage kicks in. The median deductible of the plans in the U.S. News analysis was $2,700 for individual plans and $6,000 for families. In general, plans with lower deductibles have higher premiums. Individual plans with premiums above the $284 median had a median deductible of $2,000. For those with premiums below $284, the median deductible was $5,000.

The higher you have to climb the deductible ladder before benefits are paid out, the more vulnerable your income and savings. Medical bills tend to come in waves. A routine doctor's visit that starts with an annual physical and progresses to a tentative diagnosis can trigger a cascade of expenses, from lab tests to prescription drugs to inpatient or outpatient hospital procedures. Plans rarely cover more than a portion of those costs, which may add up to tens of thousands of dollars when severe illness strikes.

The patient's share of the responsibility for medical bills often begins with the upfront copay. More than 30 percent of plans charge copays of $35 to $750 for emergency room visits. Forty-five percent of plans charge copays ranging from $10 to $125 for prescription drugs listed by plans as "preferred" choices—and nearly 1,000 plans require copays for preferred prescription drugs even after plan members have paid the deductible, the analysis shows.

But copays represent a far smaller expense to consumers than coinsurance, generally imposed as a percentage of the cost of a drug or medical service. Even after reaching the deductible, more than one-third of individual health plans require patients to shoulder coinsurance of 20 or 30 percent of the bill for diagnostic tests, medical images, emergency room visits, outpatient surgery, and hospital care, based on our analysis.

Consider the financial jolt of heart bypass surgery, performed several hundred thousand times a year in the United States. Hospital charges alone—not including bills for diagnostic testing, imaging, or rehabilitation—can cost $35,000 or more, according to Medicare data in the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare. Coinsurance of 20 percent of $35,000 adds up to $7,000. Nor do those amounts include charges by the surgeon and other physicians. Physicians' fees are billed separately, even if care is provided in the hospital. More than half of the health plans in the database require hospital patients to pay 20 or 30 percent of doctors' charges, U.S News found.

If a hospital's physicians aren't members of a health plan's network, the cost may climb even higher, an expense that often comes as a shock to plan members who assume their care is covered. "A lot of doctors who work in hospitals don't sign up for a plan's network," Pollitz says. "Anesthesiologists, hospitalists, pathologists, emergency docs—you may not even see them. But if they were involved in your care, they're going to send you a bill. And if they're out of network, it's going to be a big bill." The same is often true for hospital services, such as occupational therapy, that are not provided by physicians. Your wrist surgery might be covered by your plan, but the occupational therapy department at the same hospital could be out of the plan's network.

Consequences can be dire when a plan doesn't offer certain drugs or drug categories or medical services—or makes them unaffordable by requiring patients to pay a large part of the cost. "I just finished cancer treatment, and there's only so far you can go on generic drugs," says Pollitz, noting that cancer patients sometimes stop chemotherapy not because they can't afford chemo itself but because they can't afford drugs that control the side effects.

Cost and coverage across states show major variation in the U.S. News analysis. Two states that stand out are Massachusetts, a crucible of health care reform with its Health Connector program—the acknowledged template for the Affordable Care Act—and Minnesota, which has a more traditional insurance marketplace. Please note, in this article, Minnesota will represent Tennessee.

Judged by premiums alone, the 67 plans displayed in Massachusetts are among the most expensive in the nation, with a median premium of $528 per month, more than two-and-a-half times higher than the $196 median for the 285 plans listed in Minnesota. (Massachusetts helps defray health insurance costs by providing subsidies to any individual whose household income is less than $33,516 a year and to any family of four whose income falls below $69,156.)

Yet in Massachusetts, after the deductible is paid, about 45 percent of health plans fully cover hospitalization, hospital-based physicians' services, and imaging, compared with 19 percent in Minnesota. Why? A board established to create the Massachusetts Health Connector decided that benefits should be "fairly comprehensive," says Robert Mechanic, executive director of the Health Industry Forum, a market-based health policy center at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. As a result, coverage in Massachusetts is broader than in Minnesota, with health plans required to cover emergency care, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, medical and surgical care, mental health and substance abuse, prescription drugs, cancer therapy and outpatient services, including surgery.

Average Minnesotans are at greater financial risk. Out of 285 plans in Minnesota, coverage is absent for labor and delivery in 195, for mental health services in 170, and for specialty drugs in 80. The median deductible in Minnesota is $5,000, five times as high as in Massachusetts.

Another critical difference between Massachusetts and Minnesota will soon vanish: The Massachusetts health law prohibits denying people coverage for preexisting conditions; Minnesota, as of now, does not. "People who have cancer can buy insurance in Massachusetts," Pollitz says. "In Minnesota they can't." Fourteen plans in various states currently turn down 80 percent or more of applicants. The Affordable Care Act will make that illegal beginning in January 2014.

Health Insurance: Understanding Your Deductible, Co-pay, & Out-of-Pocket Maximum

August 3, 2012 By David E. Weliver via http://www.moneyunder30.com/health-insurance-deductible-co-pay-out-of-pocket-maximum#64EQESr3VtAghhZh.99

 

 

Is anybody else totally confused by health insurance benefits?

Even when insurers break down plan benefits in neat grids, you need to know the difference between deductibles, premiums, out-of-pocket maximums, co-pays, and co-insurance to know what you’re actually paying.

If you already have insurance, it’s important to be prepared for your share of the doctor’s bill, but it’s especially important to understand this stuff if you’re shopping for health insurance. (I know, when you’re healthy, it’s tempting to ignore deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums because, chances are, you won’t need much care. But when you do need care, these things directly impact how much YOU pay for healthcare.)

There are several health insurance terms to understand:

• Premium: The monthly fee for your insurance.
• Deductible: How much you must kick-in for care first, before your insurer pays.
• Co-pay: Your cost for routine services to which your deductible does not apply.
• Co-insurance: The percentage you must pay for care after you’ve met your deductible.
• Out-of-pocket maximum: The absolute max you’ll pay annually.

Still confused? I’ll explain these terms in more detail below. Need insurance? Armed with this information you can fairly compare plans. Start with getting your free quote now from US Health Group, America's Choice For Health Insurance.

PREMIUM
Your premium is the amount you pay into the insurance plan on a regular basis. If you belong to an employer-sponsored plan, the premium is likely deducted from each paycheck as pre-tax dollars. If you purchase your own health insurance plan, you may have the option to pay your premium annually, quarterly, or monthly. Health insurance premiums vary greatly depending on what medical expenses the plan covers, which doctors you can see, and how much you will have to pay in other ways when you use services.

DEDUCTIBLE
Your health insurance deductible is the amount that you will have to pay annually for your healthcare (such as surgical procedures, blood tests, or hospitalizations, but not routine office visits) before the health insurance pays anything. For example, if you have a $2,500 deductable and undergo three $1,000 procedures in a year, you will have to pay the full bill for the first two procedures and $500 of the third…your insurance will cover half of the third procedure.
Increasing your deductible is the easiest way to lower your premiums and, if you’re mostly healthy, might be a good idea. Just understand, however, that if you have a $10,000 deductible and get sick, you could end up with $10,000 of medical bills in a year. Typically, your deductible does not apply for preventative health checkups and many routine health services…you’ll just pay a co-pay instead
.
CO-PAY
Your co-pay is the fixed amount you pay for using routine services like visiting your primary care physician or an emergency room or purchasing a prescription drug. In most cases, the payment is the same regardless of the extent of the visit or the cost of the drug. For example, a plan may require co-pays of $20 for office visits, $100 for emergency room visits, and $15 for generic prescriptions or $30 for name-brand drugs.
CO-INSURANCE

Co-insurance is similar to a co-pay, although co-insurance generally applies to less routine expenses, and is expressed as a percentage rather than a fixed dollar amount. Co-insurance is in addition to your deductible. So if your plan has a $100 deductible and 30% co-insurance and you use $1,000 in services, you’ll pay the $100 plus 30% of the remaining $900, up to your out-of-pocket maximum. You may find plans with no co-insurance requirements, some with 20/80 or 50/50 coinsurance, or other combinations.

OUT-OF-POCKET MAXIMUM
Your out-of-pocket maximum is an important feature of your health plan because it limits the total amount you pay each calendar year for healthcare including co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance. If your policy carries a $2,500 out-of-pocket maximum and you get sick and require a lot of healthcare services, the most you will pay in a year is $2,500. After that, insurance picks up the rest of the tab.

Deductible vs. out-of-pocket maximum. The difference between your deductible and an out-of-pocket maximum is subtle but important. Out-of-pocket maximum is typically higher than your deductible to account for things like co-pays and co-insurance. For example, if you hit your deductible of $2,500 but continue to go for office visits with a $25 co-pay, you’ll still have to pay that co-pay until you’ve spent your out-of-pocket maximum, at which time your insurance would take over and cover everything.

A note about lifetime maximums. Insurance plans used to frequently have lifetime maximums, often of $1,000,000 or more. The recent healthcare reform has made this illegal, however. These lifetime maximums could be devastating if you ever required intensive surgery or cancer treatments, which often can cost up to $500,000 a piece. If you needed more than one, you could basically run out of health insurance when you need it most.

Read more at http://www.moneyunder30.com/health-insurance-deductible-co-pay-out-of-pocket-maximum#64EQESr3VtAghhZh.99

 8 Alternatives To Major Medical Health Insurance

 

 

Millions of Americans face life on a daily basis without any health insurance. The rising cost of health care has effectively forced a growing number of individuals, families and businesses to face life without health coverage of any kind. For some, this is a risk that does not interfere with their everyday lives, but for others, the absence of health coverage can be a crushing burden. However, there is a growing segment of providers of alternatives to traditional health coverage that provide various levels of protection in specific areas, such as drug or hospital costs. Here are some of the ways that you can save on health costs.

Medical Sharing Program
This type of pooled program requires members to make monthly payments toward future medical costs of all other covered members and their dependents. The dollar amount of the monthly payment is subject to constant change, and there may also be an initial membership fee, as well as an annual deductible. Of course, members receive a measure of coverage for their own expenses in return.

Discount Membership ProgramThis provides preset discounts with a specific network of health care providers for all types of standard services. These can include medical, vision, dental, chiropractic, pediatric, drugs and medical supplies. Even child care, nursing home care and hearing aid devices may be discounted. This type of plan usually doesn’t have a deductible or any restrictions on pre-existing conditions. Many times, the discount provider will provide the member with a card that is presented to providers. One thing to remember is that these programs are not insurance plans, you are responsible for paying for the services yourself.

Health Savings Accounts. Although these plans technically do use a health insurance policy, the policy is a Qualified High-Deductible Policy that is designed to primarily cover catastrophic expenses. The other part of these plans consists of savings accounts for which are funded by deductible contributions, similar to an IRA. The money inside the account is invested in growth or income securities or cash. All money withdrawn from the plan is tax-free, provided it is used for qualified medical expenses-and the definition for this is very broad. It can be used for virtually any legitimate medical expense or procedure, including doctor’s visits, surgery, long-term care, prescription and OTC drugs, vision, walking and hearing aids, and even acupuncture and alternative medicines in some cases. The deductible is a few thousand dollars per year, but taxpayers are able to pay for all of their out-of-pocket expenses on a pretax basis.

State-Sponsored Medical Assistance Programs
These programs are sponsored by each state to help low-income residents pay their medical bills. New York has a website known as HITE (The Health Information Tool for Empowerment) that assists those with little or no health coverage in finding discounted care or programs designed for uninsured residents. Every state has its own unique set of resources and programs designed to aid low-income residents. Use an Internet search engine to find more information on the programs available in your state.

Major Medical Comprehensive Plan  
This type of insurance is designed to meet the needs of the indivdual health insurance market. How it works? These insurance plans host all of the compenents (sickness, wellness and accident) of a traditional major medical insurance plan. The key difference is with a comprehensive plan, you pick and pay for ONLY what you need and leave out what you do not need-simple as that.

Contact our Star Agent of the Month "Nannette Bean" a Health Advisor with USHealth Group, pioneers in Fixed Rate Health Insurance, which keeps premium rates locked in for up to 3 years on certain products. It helps save the customers money and eliminates the hassle of annual rate increases.


Free Health Clinics
These are available in every state in the union. These clinics provide rudimentary care for low-income residents and those without health insurance at little or no cost, or perhaps a donation. Some of these clinics only serve homeless people and others are reserved for HIV-Positive patients. But there are some that can provide simple services for a very low fee for middle-class residents as well. An Internet search will yield a list of the free clinics available in your area.

Medicaid
If all else fails, this joint federal-state sponsored program provides assistance for some low-income taxpayers who qualify for aid. Eligible recipients must fall below certain income, asset and resource thresholds in order to receive aid. This program can help pay for doctor and hospital bills, nursing home care and other medical expenses. For more information on Medicaid, visit the Medicare website at http://www.medicare.gov/ and type Medicaid into the search bar.

Supplemental Insurance
Some form of insurance is better than no insurance at all. Supplemental insurance is a safety net insurance for daily living; an extra measure of financial protection to help you and your family with unexpected expenses. Supplemental Insurance goes a long way if a critical illness occurs.

Contact our Star Agent of the Month "Sharon Watson" a Professional Aflac Health Advisor, for coverage when it really counts.

Some large retailers also sponsor clinics that provide low-level care, and many hospitals also offer financial aid programs. Those with higher disposable incomes who cannot qualify for health coverage or would have to pay exorbitant premiums should consider self-insuring. Unreimbursed medical expenses can also be deductible above a certain threshold for taxpayers who can itemize deductions.

Bottom Line

These are just some of the possible alternatives to health insurance. Not all of these solutions will apply for every reader, but it is important to know that not having health insurance does not necessarily put basic health care out of reach.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0210/6-alternatives-to-health-insurance.aspx#ixzz2AK49vSkZ

Top 10 BEST Ways To Save Money On Health Insurance---Even Through The Health Reform

Health insurance can be a confusing topic. Without fully understanding the actual insurance process and workings of the current health reform, how could you possibly know enough to actually save money on it? We’ve made it easy for you. Here are the 10 best ways to save money on health insurance.

1. Open a health savings account. An HSA is like a combination of a savings account and health insurance policy. It basically allows you to set aside funds for medical purposes on a pretax basis so that by year’s end, you will have saved the potential of hundreds in medical expenses.
2. Deduct medical expenses. If you have medical expenses that have not been reimbursed by your insurer, and these expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you can deduct those expenses in your itemized tax deductions. The HRA 105 is a great way of doing such for married couples and small business owners; US Health Advisors (contact an advisor today) has it built into their actual health insurance policy with free CPA preparation.


3. Lead a low risk lifestyle. Avoid dangerous activities where you can get hurt easily, quit smoking, and maintain a healthy BMI (body mass index). Be sure to get a check up after restoring your health to see if you can qualify for a lower rate.

4. Try preventative care. When you go to the doctor for checkups, tests, flu shots, or physical examinations, these can potentially save you money treating and diagnosing problems early.
5. Avoid brand name prescription drugs. Generic drugs are actually former brand-name drugs with expired patents. This means, they actually accomplish the same goal as the more popular versions but cost much less.
6. Choose a plan for singles. If your insurance covers your spouse, significant other, or children, and raises your deductible in the process, you should choose a plan for singles instead. Plans for singles will sometimes offer everything you need without charging you for the services you’ll never use.
7. Get health insurance quotes often. Getting health insurance quotes online can be an easy and painless process within minutes you’ll know if you can save a few hundred per year on health insurance costs. Check back often to get the best rates possible, but remember as your age increases, so do health insurance rates.
8. Compare health insurance plans. Not all health insurance plans are the same, so make sure you're getting the right plan with the best rates and benefits. Don't simply settle for a plan that is offered by your employer, and definitely look at multiple health providers before you decide.
9. Use your school’s health insurance. By using a school’s health insurance plan, you’ll be able to get a discounted rate because it is considered a group health care policy. Most schools often try to provide the best and least expensive health insurance possible for their students.
10. Examine your true needs. The age of ObamaCare brings leaves Americans looking for alternatives to traditional major medical health insurance. Try a Comprehensive Plan where you only pay for what you need. Are you a single male whose health plan offers gynecological visits and maternity coverage? Does your plan cover children's vision and dental care when you have no kids? Chances are, there are things in your plan you’re paying for that you don’t truly need. Make sure you look at the coverage you really need, and eliminate the rest to save more on your health insurance.

Health insurance needs are truly different for everyone, so its important that you do your research and save where you can. Most companies only offer zombie rates that fits the general public. Consider a comprehensive plan that is actually customized to fit your personal needs.

Health Care Reform Scare BIG Company Into Employee Job Jeopardy... Is Yours Next???

Darden Restaurants Tests Hiring Of More Part-Time Employees To Avoid Obamacare Costs

By CANDICE CHOI and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR 10/09/12 07:24 PM ET  via http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/darden-restaurants-obamacare-part-time_n_1951103.html?utm_hp_ref=affordable-care-act

NEW YORK -- The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting costs from President Barack Obama's health care law.
Darden Restaurants Inc. declined to give details but said the test is only in four markets across the country. The move entails boosting the number of workers on part-time status, meaning they work less than 30 hours a week.

Under the new health care law, companies with 50 or more workers could be hit with fines if they do not provide basic coverage for full-time workers and their dependents. Starting Jan. 1, 2014, those penalties and requirements could significantly boost labor costs for some companies, particularly in low-wage industries such as retail and hospitality, where most jobs don't come with health benefits.
Darden, which operates more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, employs about 180,000 people. The company says about 75 percent of its employees are currently part-timers.

Bob McAdam, who heads government affairs and community relations for Darden, said the company is still learning from the tests, which was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel.
"We're not at a point where we have results," he said. McAdam also noted that Darden is not alone in looking at ways to keep labor costs in check, with companies across the industry prepping for the new regulations to take effect.

In fact, Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Statistics, noted that follow-up legislation might be needed to ensure that companies do not shift more workers to part-time status to avoid providing coverage.

"There's not a company in those industries that aren't looking at this," Keckley said.
This summer, for example, McDonald's Corp. Chief Financial Officer Peter Bensen noted in a conference call with investors that the hamburger chain was looking at the many factors that will impact health care costs, including its number of full-time employees.

Nationally, 60 percent of companies offer health benefits, but the figure varies depending on the size of the company. Nearly all companies with 200 or more workers offer benefits, compared with 48 percent for companies with 3-9 workers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Even beyond health care costs, however, Darden has made cutting labor costs a priority in recent years as sales growth has stalled at its flagship chains. In the most recent fiscal quarter, the company's restaurant labor costs were 31 percent of sales. That's down from 33 percent three years ago.
The reduction was driven by several factors. Given the challenging job market, Darden has been able to offer lower pay rates to new hires, as well as cut bonuses for general managers as sales have stagnated. Servers at Red Lobster now handle four tables at a time, instead of three.

And last year, the company also put workers on a "tip sharing" program, meaning waiters and waitresses share their tips with other employees such as busboys and bartenders. That allows Darden to pay more workers a far lower "tip credit wage" of $2.13, rather than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Starting next year, the company will change the way it offers health insurance to full-time employees, to keep costs more predictable. Instead of offering one insurance plan for all 45,000 employees, it will give workers a contribution toward buying coverage and then send them to an online health insurance exchange where they can chose from five medical, four dental and three vision plans.
More employers are looking at this concept, known as defined contribution health insurance, as a way to stabilize health insurance costs.

Darden said it decided to do it because a survey indicated that employees wanted more options.
___
_AP Business Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report.

Health Reform and How If Affects You---

Health Reform and How It Affects You

The new health care legislation will impact every American.

A Better Health Care System?

* You will be required by law to have health insurance.

* If you fail to insure, you will be fined -- up to $695 ($2,085 per family) in 2016 or 2.5% of your   adjusted gross income, whichever is greater.

* If your employer doesn't offer insurance, your employer can be fined as much as $2,000 per employee per year.

* A government agency, rather than you and your employer, will decide what kind of health coverage you must have.

 

Where Will I Get Health Insurance?

 

You may get it in the same place you get it today -- through an employer,
or through Medicare or Medicaid. However, your coverage and benefits probably won't be the same.

If you must buy your own insurance, you will have to obtain it through a government-regulated exchange, where competing insurers will offer the required insurance benefits.

Will I Be Able to Keep the Insurance I Now Have?

 

Probably not. Employers can drop your coverage altogether and pay a fine that costs as little as one-seventh the cost of insuring you and your family.

• Fourteen million employees will lose their employer plan, according to Medicare actuaries.
• Although some plans may avoid costly regulations because they are "grandfathered," up to 80% of
  small businesses won't be able to keep their current plan.
• Within three years, more than 100 million people will be forced into a health plan more costly and more regulated than the one they have today.

How Much Will My Health Insurance Cost?

The minimum coverage in 2016 will average about $4,750 for an individual ($12,250 for a family of four), according to the Congressional Budget Office.

In the government-regulated exchange, the out-of-pocket premium will be limited to a percent of your income up to about $44,680 ($92,200 for a family of four). If you earn more, you will have to pay the full premium yourself.

There will be no new subsidies if you get insurance at work, but your premium
may be limited to a percent of your income.

What Benefits Can I Expect?

• Starting this year (2012), all new health plans must provide mammograms, Pap smears and many other preventive services, with no copay or deductible.
• Starting in 2014, many people will get government subsidies to buy insurance they could not otherwise afford.
• If you have a pre-existing condition, you will be able to buy insurance for the same premium people in good health pay. ~BUT the people in good health premiums will be increased to meet that of those with pre-existing condition... continue further in the article. C. Benedict~
• If you have a very expensive, chronic health problem, there will be no lifetime limits on your health insurance coverage.
• As many as 30 million people will become newly insured.

What Other Costs Can I Expect?

• More than half the costs of the reform will be paid for by reduced spending
  on the elderly and disabled on Medicare.
• There will be new taxes on drugs and on such medical devices as wheelchairs, crutches, pacemakers, artificial joints, etc.
• A 40% tax on the extra coverage provided by expensive "Cadillac" plans
  will apply to about one-third of all private health insurance in 2019, and it will eventually reach every health plan.
• Scores of other items will be taxed, ranging from tanning salons to the sale of
  your home, in some cases.

There are also hidden costs:

• Health insurers will have to raise premiums for everyone in order to charge those with
  pre-existing conditions less than the expected cost of their care.
• Most employers will have to reduce what they pay in wages and other benefits in order to afford the required coverage.
• The extra burden on employers could cost as many as 800,000 jobs by 2019.

How Will Government Enforce the Requirement to Buy Insurance?

 

The enforcer of health reform is the Internal Revenue Service.

Will I Be Able to See a Doctor?

 

With millions of newly insured people trying to obtain more care, Medicare actuaries predict that you may not be able to see a doctor when you need help.

In Massachusetts, with a similar health reform:

• New patients in Boston wait an average of 63 days to see a family doctor.
• More people than ever are seeking care at hospital emergency rooms.

Another problem: Giving everyone all of the newly promised free preventive services would leave every family doctor in America with no time to do anything else that doctors do!

What If I Am on Medicare?

 

According to Medicare's chief actuary:

• Medicare Advantage members will lose $1,267 in Medicare payments in
  2014 -- resulting in lower benefits and higher premiums.
• One of every two Medicare Advantage members (7.4 million) will lose their
  plan entirely.
• One in seven hospitals may go out of business, and doctors may not take new patients because of cuts in their fees.

There are a number of new promised benefits, including:

• Medicare will pay for an annual checkup.
• Deductibles and copayments will be eliminated for many preventive services.
• If you are in the prescription drug "doughnut hole" and you are not getting other drug subsidies, you may qualify for a discount.
• Eventually (in 2019), the doughnut hole will be eliminated.

However, for each $1 in new benefits, there will be $10 in reduced Medicare spending. Also, there is no funding to make sure all the promised services will be available. If everyone on Medicare took advantage
of a free annual checkup, for example, we would need 23,000 extra doctors just to meet the demand.

What Do Medicare Cuts Mean for Individual Retirees?

 

Under the Affordable Care Act, the average amount spent on Medicare enrollees over the remainder of their lives will decrease by:

• $36,000 for someone who turned 65 in the year 2010 (equivalent to about three years of benefits).
• $62,000 for someone who will turn 65 in the year 2020 (equivalent to about six years of benefits).
• $105,000 for someone who will turn 65 in the year 2030 (equivalent to about nine years of benefits).

How Will Medical Care Change?

 

Some insurers are already offering plans that keep premiums down by restricting which doctors you
can see.
Also, the new law encourages doctors to form Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) -- a new type of
HMO that rewards doctors for meeting government guidelines. In an ACO:

• Doctors and nurses will practice in teams, and you will not necessarily see the same ones on each visit.
• You will not be allowed to get care from doctors outside of the ACO.
• Although care is supposed to be higher quality, the ACOs will get to keep any money they save
  by giving you fewer tests and services.

Crisis of the Health Uninsured ... WHO AND WHY?

Crisis of the Uninsured: 2010 and Beyond---A MUST READ

No. 753
Thursday, October 06, 2011

by Devon Herrick via http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba753
 

One of the primary goals of the federal health reform law — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) — is to ensure that all Americans have health insurance. In 2010, the number of uninsured rose to 49.9 million, or 16.3 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The rise over the past decade in the proportion of the population that is uninsured is largely due to the recession, population growth, immigration and individual choice. [See the figure.]

How Serious Is the Problem?

During the past 10 years the number of people with health coverage rose along with the number of individuals without coverage. The former is largely due to population growth, while the latter is largely due to a slowing economy. Typically, those who lack insurance are uninsured for only a short period of time — more than half will have coverage within a year. Yet it is generally overlooked that the proportion of Americans without health coverage has been relatively stable over time.

In 2010, nearly 84 percent of U.S. residents, or 256.2 million people, were privately insured or enrolled in a government health program, such as Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (S-CHIP), according to Census Bureau data. An additional 3 million to 6 million people identified as uninsured may already be covered by Medicaid or S-CHIP but erroneously told the Census Bureau they were uninsured because they do not associate Medicaid with insurance coverage.

Who Are the Uninsured?

 The uninsured include diverse groups, each uninsured for a different reason:

Low-Income Families. Some 16.2 million uninsured adults and children live in households earning less than $25,000 annually. Many in this group qualify for Medicaid or S-CHIP but are not enrolled.

Indeed:

n A BlueCross BlueShield Association survey found nearly one-third of the uninsured are eligible for public coverage but unenrolled.

n The Urban Institute estimates that nearly 7-in-10 uninsured children (6 million) qualify for S-CHIP or Medicaid but have not enrolled.

n Sixty-four percent of the uninsured seeking health insurance options at CoverageForAll.org were eligible for public coverage, according to the website’s survey.

Just over 15.4 million uninsured residents live in households with incomes of $25,000 to $50,000 per year. Most in this group do not qualify for Medicaid and (arguably) earn too little to easily afford expensive family plans costing more than $12,000 per year.

Middle-Income Families. Nearly 18.3 million of the uninsured lived in households with annual incomes above $50,000 — over half of them (9.5 million) in households with incomes that exceed $75,000 annually. Arguably, many in this group could afford some type of health insurance — possibly a high-deductible plan or a plan with limited benefits.

Immigrants. About 13 million foreign-born residents lack health coverage — accounting for 26 percent of the uninsured. In 2010, 45 percent of foreign-born noncitizen residents were uninsured.
Only immigrants who have been legal residents for more than five years qualify for public coverage. Most will not qualify for health insurance subsidies once the health insurance exchanges authorized by the PPACA are open in 2014. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that illegal immigrants will compose one-third of the projected 23 million uninsured individuals in 2019.

The Young and Healthy. About 19.9 million 18-to-34-year olds are uninsured. Most are healthy and know they can pay incidental expenses out of pocket, making health insurance a low priority.

Middle-Aged Adults. About 13.2 million 45-to-64 year olds are uninsured, an increase of 810,000 from 2009. The percentage of adults in this age group who are uninsured has been inching up for a decade, but the jump of 2.2 million people in the past two years is especially worrisome. Job losses and the economy are likely causes. But there is also the possibility of early retirees forgoing coverage knowing they will be guaranteed coverage in 2014 when the individual insurance exchanges are due to be up and running.

Why the Nonpoor Are Uninsured: State Mandates.

Government policies that drive up the cost of private health insurance may partly explain why millions of people forgo coverage. State-mandated benefits drive up the cost by requiring more coverage than consumers may want. Nationally, about one-quarter of the uninsured have been priced out of the market by excessive state mandated benefits and mandated provider laws.
In addition, many states make it easy for a person to obtain insurance after becoming sick by requiring insurance companies to offer immediate coverage for preexisting conditions with no waiting period. Thus, when people are healthy they have little incentive to participate until they need care.

Effect of Health Reform on the Number of Uninsured.

About 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019 — nearly half the 49.9 million today. This is largely because the penalties for forgoing health coverage are less than the cost of coverage ($695 per individual or 2.5 percent of income).

Furthermore, new federal regulations will require insurers to accept all applicants regardless of health status. An unintended consequence of this is that many will wait until they become sick to enroll in health coverage.

In the short run, the PPACA may cause 1.4 million people to lose their limited benefit health plans when annual caps on benefits are banned under new regulations implemented on September 23, 2010.

Conclusion.

The PPACA will leave an estimated 23 million people without coverage and millions more will have difficulty accessing a doctor. More patients will be insured but that does not solve the problem of where they will be able to go to get care.

Devon M. Herrick is a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Health Insurance Premiums Continue To Skyrocket!

Health insurance premiums skyrocket

Family health insurance premiums jumped nine percent in 2011. That's the fastest health insurance inflation since 2005.

By Donald Marron, Guest blogger / September 28, 2011 via http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Donald-Marron/2011/0928/Health-insurance-premiums-skyrocket

 

 

~Family health insurance premiums surged 9% in 2011 according to new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s the fastest health insurance inflation since 2005.

 

Insurance premiums thus outpaced both general inflation and worker earnings growth by a wide margin.

That scary spike raises an obvious question: Is health insurance more expensive because of the health reform enacted last year? ~

 

 

But one award-winning company has created a solution to the madness by offering their valued customers an option of 12, 24 and 36 month lock rates!

 

US Health Advisors wins Silver Stevie® Award in 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9240953.htm

 

Through its licensed life and health insurance companies, USHEALTH Advisors, America’s Choice for Healthcare , offers quality coverage to policy holders including Comprehensive Healthcare Coverage, Fixed Indemnity Health Insurance, Critical Illness, Life, Dental Coverage, Accident, Short-Term Accident Disability Income Insurance and much more!

The mission of US Health Advisors simply states, "to protect our customers from financial hardship due to unforeseen illness or injury. Simply stated, we provide peace of mind in keeping the promise of financial protection afforded by our insurance coverage."

Contact our "STAR" personal USHealth Advisors, LLC, advisor, Nannette Bean, today to allow her the chance to HELP YOU customize health care coverage to fit your needs giving you competitive rates and exclusive benefits!

Visit Nannette Bean's advisor website today at www.ushagent.com/nannettebean. Nannette can also be reached by email at nannette.bean@ushadvisors.com.

 

 

 

Health Care Costs Continue To Rise Under ObamaCare Provisions...

ObamaCare: If Possible, The News Is Getting Worse

By Grace-Marie Turner via http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracemarieturner/2012/03/14/obamacare-if-possible-the-news-is-getting-worse/2/

ObamaCare is taking on water as we head into the second anniversary since it passed, and the news about the president’s signature legislation gets worse by the day.

To mark the law’s two-year anniversary, the House of Representatives is planning a vote to repeal one of the law’s most unpopular provisions — the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which many seniors fear will become Medicare’s rationing board.

A few days later, the Supreme Court will hear a remarkable six hours of oral argument in the case with 26 states challenging the law’s constitutionality. Demonstrators will fill the streets outside the Supreme Court during the three days of hearings March 26-28.

For much of the last year, the White House had adopted a “strategy of silence” on ObamaCare. That’s clearly over.

After the 2010 election drubbing, the president rarely talked about his signature legislative achievement and even when he did, he only spoke about the small early provisions — 26-year-old children on their parents’ insurance, “free” preventive care, and more help for seniors with their drug costs.

For a while, the strategy was working. ObamaCare has died down as a major issue. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to repeal the law a year ago, and, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, about half of those polled afterward thought the law has been repealed or weren’t sure. The confusion — and the lack of their basic knowledge of civics — suited the White House just fine.

But ObamaCare is back to center stage this month, and the more people learn about the law, the more unpopular it becomes. Here are just some of the recent revelations:

· Soaring costs. ObamaCare will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

The new 10-year projections cover nine years of ObamaCare’s implementation (2013-2022). Original estimates counted only six years of implementation — a budget gimmick to obscure the true cost of the law. At this rate, the conservative estimates of ObamaCare’s cost will be $2 trillion over 10 years, not the $1 trillion that President Obama promised.

· Lost coverage. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) released a statement saying that the CBO’s estimate also shows that the new health law will dramatically increase Medicaid spending and result in 4 million fewer people getting health insurance through their jobs. So much for being able to keep the coverage you have now “no matter what,” as the president promised.

· Opposition locked in. An AP-GfK poll taken early this month shows that only about a third of Americans (35 percent) support the health care law, while nearly half (47 percent) oppose it. That’s about the same split as when it passed.

Opposition remains strongest among seniors, many of whom object to Medicare cuts that were used to help finance coverage for younger uninsured people.

· Anti-conscience mandate. And then there is the mega-controversy the administration created over the anti-conscience contraceptive mandate. The president had tried to make the issue about “women’s health.” But the American people understand that it is a violation of the constitutionally-guaranteed protection of religious freedom to force Catholic hospitals, universities, and charities to cover drugs that cause abortion, sterilization, and contraceptives in violation of their strong moral beliefs.

A new poll from The New York Times and CBS News reveals that a substantial majority of Americans — 57 percent to 36 percent — favor an exemption for religious-affiliated employers. And a sizable majority — 51 percent to 40 percent — still favors a religious and moral exemption for all employers. This is the same poll that shows the president’s approval rating dropping to 41 percent.

· Loss of 25 Dem seats. President Obama personally promised Democratic members of Congress that if they voted for the bill, their constituents soon would thank them, arguing that a vote against the bill would be most damaging.

Yet a new study by American Politics Research found that at least 25 members of Congress lost their seats in Congress during the 2010 elections precisely because they voted for ObamaCare.

· Bi-partisan opposition to ObamaCare is brewing. When the House of Representatives votes next week on repealing ObamaCare’s unaccountable, unelected IPAB board, at least some Democrats are likely to support repeal. The IPAB repeal bill, sponsored by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), received bi-partisan support as it made its way through House committees, showing that Democrats are equally worried about the power of the board to usurp the job of the people’s elected representatives.

· Employers will drop coverage. A new study of employers conducted by Willis Human Capital Practice found that employers expect higher health costs for both employers and employees as a result of ObamaCare, and many expect to shift employees into taxpayer-paid coverage once the option is available. That shift would certainly exacerbate the exploding costs of the law.
Last year, health costs rose 9 percent for employers, triple the rate of the year before ObamaCare’s provisions began to be implemented. Employers expect costs to only go higher.

· Investors recoil. Uncertainty about the future of the health sector is also drying up investor capital — and threatening tomorrow’s medical innovations. The share of venture dollars flowing to seed and early-stage investments in biotechnology and medical devices has plummeted since 2007, when investors pumped $3.6 billion into 332 deals in which a price was disclosed, according to data compiled for Kaiser Health News by FactSet Research Systems. Overall venture investing declined by nearly one-third as the economic recession set in.

The list goes on: If public opposition is hardening now against ObamaCare, just wait until the mandate kicks in on January 1, 2014, when everyone will be required to purchase expensive government-dictated health insurance under penalty of federal law. And as seniors find it harder and harder to find a doctor who can afford to see them. And as they begin to fear the impact of the cuts of ObamaCare’s rationing board. And as states find it is impossible to provide basic services because the mandate to vastly expand Medicaid is gobbling up virtually all of their budgets. And as the unemployment rate refuses to drop because employers are frightened about the huge costs they are facing with the employer mandate. And as taxpayers see the gusher of red ink that will explode the federal budget deficit as ObamaCare’s subsidy costs explode.

If the Supreme Court does not throw out the whole law, the voters will have to finish the job with their votes in November.

Customized Health Insurance... that actually PAYS YOU!

http://insurance-penniesfordollars.webs.com/

New Harvard Study Reveals That Lack of Health Insurance Kills!

Lack of health insurance now more lethal

A study published online today estimates nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.

The new study, “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults,” appears in today’s online edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

The Harvard-based researchers found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.

Lead author Dr. Andrew Wilper, who worked at Harvard Medical School when the study was done and who now teaches at the University of Washington Medical School, said, “The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease — but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”

The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking education, income and many other factors including smoking, drinking and obesity into account. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.

Previous estimates from the IOM and others had put that figure near 18,000. The methods used in the current study were similar to those employed by the IOM in 2002, which in turn were based on a pioneering 1993 study of health insurance and mortality.

Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease.

An increase in the number of uninsured and an eroding medical safety net for the disadvantaged likely explain the substantial increase in the number of deaths associated with lack of insurance. The uninsured are more likely to go without needed care.

Another factor contributing to the widening gap in the risk of death between those who have insurance and those who don’t is the improved quality of care for those who can get it.

The research, carried out at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, analyzed U.S. adults under age 65 who participated in the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 1986 and 1994. Respondents first answered detailed questions about their socioeconomic status and health and were then examined by physicians. The CDC tracked study participants to see who died by 2000.

The study found a 40 percent increased risk of death among the uninsured. As expected, death rates were also higher for males (37 percent increase), current or former smokers (102 percent and 42 percent increases), people who said that their health was fair or poor (126 percent increase), and those that examining physicians said were in fair or poor health (222 percent increase).

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, study co-author, professor of medicine at Harvard and a primary care physician in Cambridge, Mass., noted: “Historically, every other developed nation has achieved universal health care through some form of nonprofit national health insurance. Our failure to do so means that all Americans pay higher health care costs, and 45,000 pay with their lives.”

She added: “Even the most liberal version of the House bill would have left 17 million uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The whittled down Senate bill will be worse — leaving tens of millions uninsured, and tens of thousands dying because of lack of care. Without the administrative savings only attainable through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer reform — real universal coverage will remain unaffordable. Politicians are protecting insurance industry profits by sacrificing American lives.”

Dr. David Himmelstein, study co-author and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, remarked, “The Institute of Medicine, using older studies, estimated that one American dies every 30 minutes from lack of health insurance. Even this grim figure is an underestimate — now one dies every 12 minutes.”

“Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults,” Andrew P. Wilper, M.D., M.P.H., Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H., Karen E. Lasser, M.D., M.P.H., Danny McCormick, M.D., M.P.H., David H. Bor, M.D., and David U. Himmelstein, M.D. American Journal of Public Health, Sept. 17, 2009 (online); print edition Vol. 99, Issue 12, December 2009.

A copy of the study, along with a state-by-state breakout of excess deaths from lack of insurance, is available at http://www.pnhp.org/excessdeaths

Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) is a research and educational organization of 17,000 doctors who support single-payer national health insurance. To speak with a physician/spokesperson in your area, visit www.pnhp.org/stateactions or call (312) 782-6006.

Orginally released on:

Sept. 17, 2009
Contacts:
Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H.
David Himmelstein, M.D.
Andrew P. Wilper, M.D., M.P.H.
Mark Almberg, Physicians for a National Health Program, (312) 782-6006, mark@pnhp.org
David Lerner or Karmen Ross, Riptide Communications, (212) 260-5000