Health Care Costs Continue to Rise

[Bronco_Beerslug]

This should be at the top of peoples lists also on issues confronting all of us.

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By ADAM GELLER, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - Employers are facing continued double-digit increases in health care costs in 2005 and likely will require their workers to pay an even greater share of the bill, according to a new survey of more than 900 firms.

The survey, released Thursday by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, found that employers expect health care costs to rise 12.9 percent on average next year if they leave benefits unchanged. But companies that participated in the survey, both those that buy insurance and firms that are self-insured, are only budgeting an average increase of 9.6 percent in their health care spending.

The firms are likely to shift much of the difference to employees in the form of higher required contributions and co-payment fees, or by limiting their choice of insurance plans, the report said.
That would mark the third consecutive year that employers have shifted a portion of health care costs to workers in an effort to keep pace with rapidly rising expenses.

Mercer said employers forecast a 13 percent increase in health costs in 2004 and ended up paying about 10 percent more, chiefly because employees were asked to pick up more of the tab.

Past cost shifting, though, has done little to solve the underlying problems driving up the price of health care, said Blaine Bos, a Minneapolis-based health care consultant for Mercer.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...health_benefits

[Mile High Shack]

yeah and that's Bush's fault how?

simple answer...it's not even a little bit

the regulations for the FDA and cost of insurance for these doctors are so high b/c of trial lawyers like John Edwards...THAT is why the cost of insurance is going up.....

not to mention people are living longer so they require more health care......also people aren't as healthy as they use to be..more sedintary.

this has NOTHING to do with Bush no matter how much you want it to be

[Bronco_Beerslug]

yeah and that's Bush's fault how?

simple answer...it's not even a little bit

this has NOTHING to do with Bush no matter how much you want it to be
Ignorance is bliss, I guess. Why don't you do a little research and see what Bush said he would do for healthcare costs back in 2000?

[Mile High Shack]

Ignorance is bliss, I guess. Why don't you do a little research and see what Bush said he would do for healthcare costs back in 2000?


dude, you can ignore the reasons I stated if you want

plain and simple..that's the truth..it's not ignorace

what's ignorance is to blame Bush for everything that goes wrong.

must be nice to have a convienent scape goat.

you can't deny what I said is true about health care costs.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

dude, you can ignore the reasons I stated if you want

plain and simple..that's the truth..it's not ignorace

what's ignorance is to blame Bush for everything that goes wrong.

must be nice to have a convienent scape goat.

you can't deny what I said is true about health care costs.
Ignore them? What reasons? Show me the numbers, sources, anything that backs up your statements.

[Mile High Shack]

Ignore them? What reasons? Show me the numbers, sources, anything that backs up your statements.\

show me your numbers how this is all Bush's fault?

I think anyone with common sense knows I'm right

if you don't think people aren't living longer...then your misinformed..I could go to look up the average age, but I don't want to, b/c I use to work in a benefits dept. and I know it is.

if you don't think the cases of diabetes and obesity are rising...then your a fool

if you don't think the costs of insurance for doctors is sky rockting b/c of law suits, then you dont' understand why they want tort reform.

add just those 3 small reason and you'll understand why health care costs are rising...IT'S NOT BUSH'S FAULT!!!

EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG IS NOT BUSH'S FAULT!!!!

[Bronco_Beerslug]

\

show me your numbers how this is all Bush's fault?

I think anyone with common sense knows I'm right

if you don't think people aren't living longer...then your misinformed..I could go to look up the average age, but I don't want to, b/c I use to work in a benefits dept. and I know it is.

if you don't think the cases of diabetes and obesity are rising...then your a fool

if you don't think the costs of insurance for doctors is sky rockting b/c of law suits, then you dont' understand why they want tort reform.

add just those 3 small reason and you'll understand why health care costs are rising...IT'S NOT BUSH'S FAULT!!!

EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG IS NOT BUSH'S FAULT!!!!
I get it now. People started living a lot longer when Bush was elected and started getting more diseases and fatter and so on and so on.
This is an election issue. I presented a article with numbers from a source.
If you don't agree with those numbers show me something different. If you agree with them then you admit this is happening under Bush's watch.
If you think Bush's policies do not effect these issues you are sadly mistaken and if you blame the lawyers, show me the numbers.
What is Bush's plan to reign in Health-care costs?

From Kerry's website...
We deserve a president who understands that in America, regular check-ups shouldn't empty family checkbooks - a president who will put people ahead of insurance and drug companies.

Cut Your Premiums
John Kerry and John Edwards will cut family premiums by up to $1,000. That's $1,000 in real savings people can use to buy groceries, pay the bills, and save for their children's future. And that will mean more jobs and more competitive American businesses.

Cover All Americans With Quality Care
The Kerry-Edwards plan will give every American access to the range of high-quality, affordable plans available to members of Congress and extend coverage to 95 percent of Americans, including every American child. Their plan will also fight to erase the health disparities that persist along racial and economic lines, ensure that people with HIV and AIDS have the care they need, end discrimination against Americans with disabilities and mental illnesses, and ensure equal treatment for mental illness in our health system
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/

[Mile High Shack]

I get it now. People started living a lot longer when Bush was elected and started getting more diseases and fatter and so on and so on.
This is an election issue. I presented a article with numbers from a source.
If you don't agree with those numbers show me something different. If you agree with them then you admit this is happening under Bush's watch.
If you think Bush's policies do not effect these issues you are sadly mistaken and if you blame the lawyers, show me the numbers.
What is Bush's plan to reign in Health-care costs?

From Kerry's website...
We deserve a president who understands that in America, regular check-ups shouldn't empty family checkbooks - a president who will put people ahead of insurance and drug companies.

Cut Your Premiums
John Kerry and John Edwards will cut family premiums by up to $1,000. That's $1,000 in real savings people can use to buy groceries, pay the bills, and save for their children's future. And that will mean more jobs and more competitive American businesses.

Cover All Americans With Quality Care
The Kerry-Edwards plan will give every American access to the range of high-quality, affordable plans available to members of Congress and extend coverage to 95 percent of Americans, including every American child. Their plan will also fight to erase the health disparities that persist along racial and economic lines, ensure that people with HIV and AIDS have the care they need, end discrimination against Americans with disabilities and mental illnesses, and ensure equal treatment for mental illness in our health system
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care/

you seriously think I was saying Americans only got fatter and lived longer since Bush was president? c'mon, give me some credit for intelligent thinking. I was saying that is just one of the factors. The major factor is the trial lawyers going after Doctors for malpractice. I know in my state that a lot of obestetricians stopped delivering babies b/c the cost of their malpractice insurance was so high they couldn't afford it. If you want the #1 reason health care is so expensive, look no farther than the vice presidential candidate sitting next to Kerry. His types have caused health care to jump 10 fold in the past 5 years.

oh please, they will not if they get elected. You can promise the moon but that is going to be impossible.

Being that John Edwards is a trial lawyer there is no way that special interest will let health care costs go down.

and HOW is Kerry planning on paying for all that that he promised without raising taxes across the board? simple answer..can't be done and WON'T be done.

[enjolras]

On this agenda my vote goes to:

1) The president that supports stem-cell research in the United States. This is our best hope for curing the worst of our problems. We're crying that our jobs are being pushed overseas, and yet we're letting this research move overseas with the support of the man at the top. Hell the British are fairly close to human trials on regrowing teeth from stem cells... shouldn't that be us?

As someone who has lost a loved one to cancer... this is probably my most important healthcare issue in the campaign.

2) Controlled access to cheaper drugs. Drug patents need to be shortened.. considerably. Access to drugs made outside of the United States needs to be encouraged and promoted. Right now the largest healthcare expense, by far, are the various drugs we use to treat disease. Limiting patent liftetimes encourages competition (look at the price of Claritin as the patent expired) and lower drug prices.

The candidate who can make those two issues work.. gets my vote.

Bush fails, miserably, on both fronts. He's let religious conviction get in the way of scientific research and put this country at an economic and societal disadvantage. I've also seen nothing form him indicating any kind of plan on how to fix our prescription drug problem.

Kerry supports stem cell research.. so he wins on that front. His medical coverage program is both unworkable, insane, and all around a bad idea. It's nice that he has some kind of plan, but I think it does nothing to solve the issues we're really facing. When it costs many families close to $10,000 a year for health insurance we have a problem, shifting that burden to the tax payers doesn't fix the fundamental problem.

[Rohirrim]

EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG IS NOT BUSH'S FAULT!!!!

Bush has spent four years in the White House with a majority in both houses of Congress. Meanwhile, more people have moved into the ranks of poverty, fewer have insurance, more jobs have been lost, wages have stagnated, America is mired in an unnecessary war that has ballooned the deficit, health care costs have skyrocketed, more businesses have closed, more jobs have gone offshore, etc. etc.

Don't you think he could have done something about any one of these things?

Meanwhile, the rich have gotten a whole lot richer.

[Mile High Shack]

On this agenda my vote goes to:

1) The president that supports stem-cell research in the United States. This is our best hope for curing the worst of our problems. We're crying that our jobs are being pushed overseas, and yet we're letting this research move overseas with the support of the man at the top. Hell the British are fairly close to human trials on regrowing teeth from stem cells... shouldn't that be us?

As someone who has lost a loved one to cancer... this is probably my most important healthcare issue in the campaign.

2) Controlled access to cheaper drugs. Drug patents need to be shortened.. considerably. Access to drugs made outside of the United States needs to be encouraged and promoted. Right now the largest healthcare expense, by far, are the various drugs we use to treat disease. Limiting patent liftetimes encourages competition (look at the price of Claritin as the patent expired) and lower drug prices.

The candidate who can make those two issues work.. gets my vote.

Bush fails, miserably, on both fronts. He's let religious conviction get in the way of scientific research and put this country at an economic and societal disadvantage. I've also seen nothing form him indicating any kind of plan on how to fix our prescription drug problem.

Kerry supports stem cell research.. so he wins on that front. His medical coverage program is both unworkable, insane, and all around a bad idea. It's nice that he has some kind of plan, but I think it does nothing to solve the issues we're really facing. When it costs many families close to $10,000 a year for health insurance we have a problem, shifting that burden to the tax payers doesn't fix the fundamental problem.

your wrong about stem cell research...Bush does support it, but only on the cords, fluid and such left over from births NOT from growing embroys in a test tube then harvesting those stem cells.

we do have stem cell research.

how in the world are you paying 10,000 dollars a year for health insurance? my gawd man, get a better health plan.

our drug prices have to do with the FDA, not Bush.

[Mile High Shack]

Bush has spent four years in the White House with a majority in both houses of Congress. Meanwhile, more people have moved into the ranks of poverty, fewer have insurance, more jobs have been lost, wages have stagnated, America is mired in an unnecessary war that has ballooned the deficit, health care costs have skyrocketed, more businesses have closed, more jobs have gone offshore, etc. etc.

Don't you think he could have done something about any one of these things?

Meanwhile, the rich have gotten a whole lot richer.

ok here we go with that....you seem to forget a little incident called 9/11 happened which hamstrung our economy greatly. The airline industry is a vital cog to our economy and they got virtually shut down and lost a great deal of money.

THEN b/c of all the worries of terroism, the price of oil skyrocketed and there is nothing Bush could've done about that.

Then you have the recession that was building since 1998, that finally hit in 2000, right after Bush hit office.

The dot.com "economy" collapsed finally (as predicted since 1995), then you have the accouting scandals that hit that were growing since the mid-90's but not uncovered until Bush hit office.

you add all those factors up and it's amazing America is doing as well as it is.

[Rohirrim]

Airlines were going broke before 9/11. As far as the other stuff goes, here goes - Bush rushed this country into an unnecessary war in Iraq and at the same time cut taxes 1.6 trillion dollars. The price of oil has skyrocketed because of Iraq, not 9/11. He took a surplus and turned it into a deficit. Had he given that large of a tax cut to the middle class, consumption would have gone through the roof and righted the recession ship. Instead, he gave it to the wealthy, who naturally in a time of war, socked the money away for a rainy day. And he is personally responsible for all of those decisions - often times (as in the tax cuts) against the advice of people who knew better.

[kappys]

There are essentially two factors to consider in health care costs of course. Both sides are polarized by one or the other, but both need addressed.

1) Malpractice - is not 2% of health costs. If you looked at the CBO report on that you would see that it was intended to cover all forms of insurance reform(auto, etc.) + looked at only 2 health care studies, 1 of which focused solely on heart attacks for which malpractice is low since there is basicaly a formulaic guideline to be followed.
The suits have created a climate of fear in which doctor's order plenty of unnecessary tests and uneeded consults to other doctors to cover their asses. This spikes the costs tremendously.

2) Drugs - a bigger part of overall costs than malpractice, I agree. We need to import drugs from Canada and Europe - and give our drug companies a choice. Either lower drug costs for Americans, or raise the costs for everyone else in the world. They counter that other countries will violate US patents, but we have to seek remedies for that via the WTO and other foreign bodies. If they choose to do that, then we have other economic means of retaliating.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

This should be at the top of peoples lists also on issues confronting all of us.

The nutjobs who support Deserter Boy would rather shift the focus to other things, i.e., who's war wounds were or weren't serious enough to warrant medals, even if it means voting against their own interests.

Case in point: Texas leads the nation with an unbelievable 25% of citizens who have no health insurance--yet Smirk knows he can bank the state's electoral votes.

Stockholm syndrome?