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| New Florida Health Insurance Plan Faces Challenges... »
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched a commission this week that will try to determine the effects of socioeconomic factors, like income, education, housing, diet, exercise and stress, on the health care and life spans of U.S. residents. This comes in light of releases from the American Cancer Society that found that lower-income Americans who can't afford insurance are more likely to be diagnosed with a late stage cancer than those who can afford it. And similar stories abound these days - the infant mortality rate is much higher for black citizens in Florida, non-white women are more likely to suffer from aggressive breast cancer but less likely to get treatment, the health care concerns go on and on. According to Kaiser Daily Health, about one in three lower-income residents has a chronic disease, compared with about one in 10 higher-income residents. All of which points to the fact that those who enjoy good health care enjoy longer life spans. This is why it's so important to have an insurance policy that covers yearly checkups alongside everything else. Those checkups are the key to preventing disease, or catching it early on when treatment is both cheaper, and more successful.
Last month health insurance agency Blue Cross found itself in a PR nightmare when word leaked out that they were trying to force doctors to reveal if patients were lying on their insurance application, as a means of canceling their coverage. This month, in a landmark decision aimed at protecting consumers, another health insurance agency must pay $9 million dollars for canceling coverage of a sick patient. At ABC News it's reported that Health Net dropped coverage of a 52-year-old woman when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was left with $129,000 dollars in unpaid medical bills and no choice but to abandon her lifesaving treatment. Thankfully a state-funded cancer program paid for her treatments at a later date, and now Health Net, like many other health insurance agencies, is finding that the old trick of canceling policies to save money won't be allowed to continue. In fact, the company also announced Friday that it had stopped the controversial practice of canceling sick policyholders' policies at all, and won't do so any more without advice from a third party. Cases like these are reminding health insurance agencies that the consumer comes first in this market, just like any other. And, as the health care system sees more and more criticism, more and more change that will protect the American people is on the way.
Governor Charlie Crist proposed this week reducing the number of state citizens living without Florida health insurance by creating coverage options that he said would cost less than half of what individual policyholders pay today. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Crist's Cover Florida Health Access Act would not require individuals to buy Florida health insurance, nor would it force employers to provide coverage. Instead, it would focus on private insurers who would negotiate with the state to develop coverage options that would include fewer services and thus be cheaper. But the plan does have drawbacks. Insurance agencies would be required to offer Florida health insurance to any state citizen regardless of any pre-existing conditions, which many agencies insist can't be done without driving companies into the ground. Furthermore, those individuals who need more than catastrophic coverage would still pay more for their insurance. Whether or not Crist's proposal will pass is still on the table, but in the mean time, those individuals who still need affordable Florida health insurance are advised to shop around for a plan that covers all of their potential needs.
Skyrocketing health insurance costs are a major reason why many American baby boomers and Generation-Xers won't be able to maintain their standard of living when they retire. A new study released by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and cited by MSN Health reports that based on estimated monthly costs for those who rely on Medicare when they retire, "most baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation Xers (born between 1965 and 1974) would have to have about $102,000 per person ($206,000 per couple) set aside just for health care expenses when they retire." The average amount most retirees set aside for health insurance costs and living expenses combined is around $60,000, according to the center's report. The results indicate that most retirees are going to see a marked decline in their quality of living when they retire due to the rise in health insurance and health care costs across the country. Clearly we are reaching a critical point in health care in America. Consumers and upcoming retirees need to start searching for good health insurance coverage today, so that they are healthy when they become eligible for Medicare. Medicare supplemental insurance can plug some gaps for those whose needs aren't fully met by Medicare, but the best means of preparing for the future is to save more, adopt a healthy lifestyle, and pray for change in our health care.
The percentage of U.S. adults taking prescription drugs to treat health conditions such as high cholesterol, diabetes, depression and hypertension increased significantly between 2000 and 2006, according to a study released on Tuesday by Express Scripts. And as that percentage continues to go up, so do health insurance premiums for American consumers. The study itself used data from over three million insured adults in 40 states, as reported by the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report. According to the study, the percentage of people taking cholesterol drugs increased from 6.1% in 2000 to 13.2% in 2006; the percentage taking diabetes drugs increased from 3.1% to 5.5% during that time period; and the percentage taking blood pressure medications increased from 8% to 14.1%. The study findings are no big surprise to most: many critics of our health care system argue that our dependence on prescription drugs may be extending our lives, but it does so at the high cost of health insurance premiums. Doctors have lately been urged to focus less on treating sickness, and more on prevention, since conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol have all been linked in part to lifestyle decisions. By focusing on the prevention of disease many believe that not only would health insurance costs go down, but the patient's quality of life would go up.
While a much anticipated health care bill has finally passed in state legislature, Utah health insurance reform is still 10 years away. The Salt Lake Tribune puts it most clearly: "Health-care reform in Utah will have to wait." Sure, a bill has been passed that mandates a task force to study several items, including individual mandates, ways to end the practice of the insured paying for the uninsured through emergency hospital visits, expanding entitlement programs, the possibility of protecting doctors from liability claims if they follow to-be-determined best practices, and the possibility of taxing doctors and hospitals to subsidize private insurance for the poor. But all of the above are still possibilities, and the bill itself is called an "eventual" reform plan for Utah health insurance that will emphasize "individual accountability" and "market-based forces." Sound vague? Perhaps that's because it is. But, there is one place where the bill is quite clear: "it will take 10 years to fully implement." Meaning what for Utahans? That Utah health insurance will change, if indeed it does change based on state legislation, at a very slow pace. In the mean time, while it's great to talk about lowering premiums and boosting eligibility, state citizens need to keep shopping around the old fashioned way, comparing rates for insurance they can rely on at a price that doesn't empty their pocketbook.
The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a study this week finding that Americans paid $127 billion in 2005 for prescription drugs. As our dependence on these medications grows stronger, how will it impact health insurance costs for consumers? According to MSN Health, "in 2005, U.S. adults spent nearly $36 billion on prescription drugs to lower blood sugar, reduce cholesterol, or treat other metabolic problems." The other four classes of prescription drugs that Americans relied upon included cardiovascular drugs, for reducing high blood pressure and treating heart conditions ($33 billion), central nervous system drugs, including pain killers, sleep aid medications, and attention deficit disorder medications ($26 billion), antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs ($17 billion), and gastrointestinal drugs, including antacids and laxatives ($15 billion). And the use of these prescription drugs has definitely affected the cost of health insurance premiums. In fact, most people find that even with high premiums, out-of-pocket expenses and high deductibles for medications make their health insurance costs too high to pay. Is there a solution? In part, yes. While brand name medications will continue to be expensive, consumers should search for a health insurance plan that offers generic drugs. Generic drugs are just as effective as brand-name drugs, and can cost a lot less, in some cases hundreds of dollars less. It's also wise to ask your doctor to prescribe a generic drug instead of expensive prescription drugs. Doctors aren't always aware of how much patients are paying for their medications, but they do understand that with health insurance costs on the rise, cheaper bills can make the difference between the patient they see every year, and the one who can't afford to go to the doctor at all.
The study released this week by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands has caused quite a stir, proposing that lifelong health insurance costs for obese individuals and smokers are actually lower than those for healthy individuals who live years longer. As it says at Kaiser's Daily Report, "healthy individuals on average had lifetime health care costs of $417,000, compared with $371,000 for obese individuals and $326,000 for smokers, according to the study." Common sense dictates that since obese people and smokers die younger than healthy people, those healthy people might end up paying more for health insurance. But here's the thing, the study didn't take into account two very important factors: prescription drugs, and quality of life. Prescription drugs are a billion dollar enterprise here in the US, and as this generation ages, life spans are being extended due to the use of expensive drugs. Sure, it might cost less for an obese person to die young, but what if that person lives longer due to the use of expensive medications? That's a person who will certainly have very high health insurance premiums. And then there's quality of life to think about. The leader of the study, an economist by the way, states that "lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don't survive very long." This is true, but isn't it worth another $40,000 to live longer, and enjoy living your life at the same time? After all, that's what health insurance was originally supposed to provide - piece of mind, and the means to keep living the healthy, happy life that we all deserve.
After the much-publicized failure of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care reform bill, many nationwide op-ed pieces suggested that state level medical coverage mandates simply can't work. However, if this is indeed the case, no one told Colorado, whose Blue Ribbon Commission for Healthcare Reform recently released its final recommendations for Colorado health insurance, including a requirement that all state residents obtain health coverage. As it's reported at the Kaiser Daily Report, among many other things the commission also recommended is the state "increase funding for Medicaid and children's health care." In order to offer affordable Colorado health insurance to the more than 800,000 uninsured in the state, other recommendations included creating subsidies for low-income workers to purchase private insurance, streamlining health care-related administrative functions to bring down costs, and encouraging wellness programs and insurance rewards for maintaining healthy behaviors and undergoing preventive care. However, the one thing left out of the report was a means of funding such a far-reaching plan. And, as Californians discovered just last month, footing the bill can be a deal breaker. Hopefully Colorado health insurance will find the funding that California couldn't get, but until then state residents need to keep searching for an affordable plan that they can rely on when it matters most.
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