Healthcare Costs Growth Approach 50 Year Lows

[RunInRed 18,708]

Obamacare is going to bankrupt us (:womp: :womp: :womp:) ...

Health care inflation will likely approach 50-year lows in 2014 even as Obamacare brings millions of newly insured Americans into the system, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The rate of increase is projected to dip to 6.5 percent, defying historical post-recession patterns.

The New York-based PwC called the estimate “a signal of progress in the quest to bend the cost curve.”

The slower growth reflects more efficient delivery of care as well as changes in consumer behavior, including less use of services and more reliance on cheaper options such as retail clinics, according to the professional services firm.

....

Yousuf Ahmad, CEO of Mercy Health, said the country's increased focus on prevention "is starting to pay dividends in lowering health care spending overall."

"I would anticipate this downward trend in health care spending to continue and accelerate in coming years," he said, "as we expand coverage to those currently without health insurance and refine our ability to care for populations."

...

The company predicts a net growth rate of 4.5 percent for insurance premiums in 2014 after accounting for changes in benefit design.

“Health care cost increases continue to exceed overall growth in wages, but the gap appears to be shrinking,” Michael Thompson, principal with PwC’s human resource services practice, said in a press release. “The long-term trends suggest that as the economy improves, the cycle of runaway cost increases will be broken.”

http://www.bizjourna...toric-lows.html

[berrytgr 0]

According to the "Bitter Pill" health care article that was in Time Mag this year the USA spends more money on health care than the next 10 countries combined. It is great having the best health care available on the planet but most Americans can not afford it.

[MDM4AU 338]

Womp, womp, womp all you want. The title is a bit misleading.

“At 6.5 percent it’s still far higher than the general consumer price index, and it’s a significant additional cost for people running companies,” said Denny Riedmiller of Blue Ash-based Riedmiller & Associates Inc. “That means they have to charge their customers more and there’s a ripple effect through the economy.”

This article mentions the cost to provide services is going down and that is a good thing. But the number of people to be insured will outpace that with benefits they haven't had before. Utilization will skyrocket in the first couple years. So intsead of 100 people having X done for $400, you will have 1000 people having X done for $300. The total costs will still be going up.

The company predicts a net growth rate of 4.5 percent for insurance premiums in 2014 after accounting for changes in benefit design.

Because of the "affordablility rule," companies will be cutting benefits so that their plan does not cost more than 9.5% of any employee's gross income. You will see many companies go from a plan with an 80-90 actuarial value to 60-70. And the PCORI Fee, Reinsurance Tax, and the Health Insurance Tax will still be out there.

This is not the big news it appears you think it is for Obamacare.

[RunInRed 18,708]

I understand costs are still going up but the facts are the rate of growth is taking a nose dive. And that's a good thing by any measure. Take the politics of it. Further, as the article pointed out, the long-term trends are even better.

We live in a country facing a deficit/debt problem ... and healthcare is one of the biggest drivers ... so this movement is a very good thing.

[AFTiger 282]

Obamacare is basically a price control device and although the rate of growth may be lower now what will be the effect of doctor shortages and a reduction of access.

[cptau 169]

I think the jury is still out on what effect "affordable healthcare" will have on the health insurance market. The administration appears very nervous about it, but they will be gone before we know for sure.

[AFTiger 282]

Affordable healthcare is designed to destroy the private insurance industry and create such chaos that the federal government will step in and "fix" it.

[telling tiger 156]

The private insurance industry so money gifted congress that something as sane as insurance competition across state lines couldn't pass any session of congress in modern history. My heart doesn't exactly bleed for insurance companies. They are as much a problem if not more than anything with our healthcare system.

[RunInRed 18,708]

Affordable healthcare is designed to destroy the private insurance industry and create such chaos that the federal government will step in and "fix" it.

[augolf1716 22,040]

We will be single payer in 10/15 years anyway..

[MDM4AU 338]

We will be single payer in 10/15 years anyway..

It will be the top issue for 2020...MMW.

[RunInRed 18,708]

A simple, streamlined solution makes since for a whole bunch of reasons ... not the least of which is coverage for all and cost-effectiveness. But the complexities of migrating from what we have today, even tomorrow (Obamacare), to that, seems pretty daunting.

[AFTiger 282]

Affordable healthcare is designed to destroy the private insurance industry and create such chaos that the federal government will step in and "fix" it.

[augolf1716 22,040]

We will be single payer in 10/15 years anyway..

It will be the top issue for 2020...MMW.

Malibu's Most Wanted

[MDM4AU 338]

Ha! Mark My Word...

[augolf1716 22,040]

Ha! Mark My Word...

lol

[cptau 169]

We will be single payer in 10/15 years anyway..

Sooner than that I think. The private health insurance companies backed affordable care to pick up extra business on these state insurance exchanges. Prices on insurance keeps rising while companies drop coverage for employees. The private insurance companies are in trouble. I think single payer canadian style insurance will be here by 2018 or 2020.

[AFTiger 282]

http://news.investor...are-mandate.htm

When Regal Entertainment Group (RGC) in April blamed ObamaCare for the fact that it was cutting some of its workers' hours, backers of the law mounted a furious backlash against the theater chain, among other things filling its Facebook page with boycott threats.

"Greed and selfishness make me sick," one of them said. Darden Restaurants (DRI) felt this intense heat last year after suggesting it might shift to more part-time work to minimize the cost of the law's mandate that companies offer coverage to all their full-time workers. CEO Clarence Otis even blamed its lowered outlook for 2013 in part on "recent negative media coverage" over "how we might accommodate health care reform."

Yet while private companies are getting all this unwelcome and hostile attention, local governments across the country have been quietly doing exactly the same thing — cutting part-time hours specifically so they can skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate, while complaining about the law in some of the harshest terms anyone has uttered in public.

The result is that part-time government workers — many of them low-income — face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits.

[AFTiger 282]

We will be single payer in 10/15 years anyway..

Sooner than that I think. The private health insurance companies backed affordable care to pick up extra business on these state insurance exchanges. Prices on insurance keeps rising while companies drop coverage for employees. The private insurance companies are in trouble. I think single payer canadian style insurance will be here by 2018 or 2020.

That was the intent all along. First, though, create chaos so we will beg for it.

[telling tiger 156]

"The longer you can deny paying a claim, the more investment income an insurer can make ." YEAH, can't imagine why some people don't share the same enthusiasm for health insurers as some might. Karma would suggest, you better hope that isn't you. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendell-potter/the-higher-health-insurer_b_3137831.html What irony that the higher the denial rate is, the higher the CEO compensation is. That must be related somehow in theory , don't ya think, lol.

[AFTiger 282]

T

"The longer you can deny paying a claim, the more investment income an insurer can make ." YEAH, can't imagine why some people don't share the same enthusiasm for health insurers as some might. Karma would suggest, you better hope that isn't you. http://www.huffingto..._b_3137831.html What irony that the higher the denial rate is, the higher the CEO compensation is. That must be related somehow in theory , don't ya think, lol.

Much conjecture, few facts. I do know that BCBSAL pays a lot faster than Medicare. I have a little insight into denials. Most are for uncovered procedures or inappropriate treatment. Read your damn contract before you have it done.

[telling tiger 156]

In Vermont, WHERE IT HAS TO BE DISCLOSED NOW, making it fact, lol. BCBS, denies 7%, Cigna denies in the middle 20% range. A small state with fewer doctors, the same providers and insurance billers, things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmm. GEE, wonder what the reason is for that.....lol. Your experience with denial is not the same as another persons exp with denial. We have a healthcare system with over 300 million participants. Drug companies, hospitals, doctors, nurses an any accompanying provider you can imagine down to the food service preparers. Most of those entities provide lobbying money to their bought and paid for representatives. To expect it to be a smooth transition to any kind of reform, isn't exactly the most realistic expectation I've ever seen. I do not specifically support the total and complete healthcare plan. It takes actual work to reform something, not rhetoric. I'm thinking looking at your screen name, you might have some idea of how slowly some things change.

[MDM4AU 338]

This is not targeted at anyone in particular on this board. This thought was triggered in this thread and I want to get it off my chest.

I have worked in the employee benefits arena for over 10 years. None of the carriers I have worked for have a policy of holding on to claims for a long time to make more money on investments. Both local carriers get high marks for their promptness in paying.

When I worked for BCBSAL, calling on Dr. Offices was always interesting. The doc loved the prompt payment and the coverage for him self and employees but hated the contracts they signed to be a part of the network. The HMO is well known for claims payment and a medical review of denials and complaints that is very patient friendly. Being an HMO in AL, the network is only in-state but the carrier has a policy of allowing out of network services in cases where there isn’t a provider to treat the particular condition or if all in network options have been exhausted. In the major metro areas of the state, this carrier’s network is almost identical to that of BCBSAL. It’s not an HMO of days gone by with gate-keepers, referrals, and limited networks. It’s open access.

Not all BCBS companies are the same. At one time each state had a plan but many have been bought and add to “consortiums” and gone for-profit. WellPoint is probably the biggest with something like 13 states worth. Some states had multiple plans. I think 8 of the 20-something BCBS plans out there are non-profit.

Most people don’t hear about the good things insurance companies do only the bad. And that’s how things go in business almost as a rule. But that doesn’t make all the complaints true. Again, there are countless true stories and movies about the ills of BIG INSURNACE and insurance companies as a whole have been made out to be a bogeyman in America. More so than any other industry right now. I don’t think it is justified.

I’m not saying there aren’t some changes that need to be made. I even agree with some of the things in the ACA. I completely disagree with a lots of things and with the way it’s put together.

It’s interesting to me the group of Americans that would never allow a bad word about lawyers cross their lips and claim, “they’re not all the same,” but with minimal actual facts will throw another complete industry (insurance) under the bus.

OK, my rant is done. Carry on...

[telling tiger 156]

FTR, I think the example of BCBS denial %'s in Vermont, given in the link I posted, is actually very good. Cigna's 23ish% gives me pause for concern. Insurance companies have lobbied GREATLY against being able to cross state lines, in some instances, to reduce cost and provide for more competition. Not all snakes are poisonous , but some are. Be they attorney snakes, insurance snakes and even doctor snakes. Open access should also mean a more competitive pricing openness and a more open record of rates of coverage's and denials as well as what those denials are for. It is natural for an industry to defend its' place in the "world". Just as natural for those seeking change, to work with the opposite opinions.

[cptau 169]

There are things that could have been done to improve the current insurance system, interstate heath insurance competition, standardization, tort reform, etc. Instead the cure that was provided by the politicians is a pork bill making the federal government bigger, send lots of cash to favored special interests, intentionally speeds up the death of the current healthcare insurance system, and paves the way for Canadian style single payer. Single Payer is what Hillary tried and failed to ram through in 1994.

The Canadian system while called single payer is not completely. Some employers still provide extra heath care insurance coverage and individuals still buy extra personal insurance from private insurance companies. There are lots of good things about the Canadian system, but people need to understand it does not give people immediate access to any medical procedure they might need or want.