90k Boeing non union workers to pay more for insurance.

[joshh]

http://mopns.com/2010/10/19/ap-boeing-employees-to-see-increased-premiums-thanks-to-obamacare/

Rock on Obama!!

[Garageaholic]

I work the same exact line of business and feel the same pain. In fact, countless other companies and corporations all over the country are experiencing increasing health premiums with a "preventative healthcare plan" option. For now is the time to elect health benefits for 2011.

[bostonbmw]

Mine went up 12% and this is before the 2011 stuff kicks in..........

[shiftbmw]

Quite a bit more money out of my pocket for next year, for worse coverage. I got raped by Obamacare.

[Bill 84 318i]

Out of curiousity, how many of you, as individuals, actually understand the law and why your costs went up? I know I don't.

It may not be a smooth transition and things might look scary, but I'm not ready to go up in arms just yet - my company has been switching providers like it's fun over the past 5 years, and costs have still been skyrocketing.

[reelop19]

Your premiums go up till you can't afford it. You drop private healthcare and join government healthcare. Eventually everyone does, taxes skyrocket to pay for it, and your healthcare plan gets worse. Seems like a good plan to me.

[joshh]

Out of curiousity, how many of you, as individuals, actually understand the law and why your costs went up? I know I don't.

It may not be a smooth transition and things might look scary, but I'm not ready to go up in arms just yet - my company has been switching providers like it's fun over the past 5 years, and costs have still been skyrocketing.

There's no question I don't fully understand it but I understand the basics pretty well. When you add a ton of people that the Insurance companies wouldn't normally add (high risk people) they have no choice but to increase the costs. This is part of why this legislation is a failure.
You can't mandate a company do something it normally wouldn't and expect costs to remain the same. Specially with health care.
Costs have been going up quite a bit but they have increased even more because of this Bill.

[ortholithiation]

Boeing just reported great earnings too.

[z31maniac]

Ahem.

The main reason costs are going up is because the gov't is mandating what coverages insurance companies have to offer. They have to cover more things, with less restrictions and no monetary limits. That presents a new level of risk that the insurance companies have to price in.

There is also the fact that health insurance will rise more than rate of inflation, due to well inflation itself, cost of new technologies and drugs, scarity of physicians and specialists. Another main factor is the fee-driven nature of healthcare.

On a per capita basis the US has something like 5x the MRI machines that Canada does, not so there is greater access, but because they drive fees that get the doctors paid.

The risk pool thing is bullshit, I believe something like 95% of the people in this country who have insurance already have it without having to worry about "pre-existing" conditions. IE people who are in Medicaid/Medicare and group insurance that is provided by employees. Only private individual plans are "screened."

Large numbers of unemployed people now are young, healthy people who don't want to pay for it. By adding those types of people into the risk pool, that would actually drive premiums down, since 10% of the people in this country account for more than 80% of healthcare spending.

I could go on and on.......

[Bill 84 318i]

Ahem.

The main reason costs are going up is because the gov't is mandating what coverages insurance companies have to offer. They have to cover more things, with less restrictions and no monetary limits. That presents a new level of risk that the insurance companies have to price in.

There is also the fact that health insurance will rise more than rate of inflation, due to well inflation itself, cost of new technologies and drugs, scarity of physicians and specialists. Another main factor is the fee-driven nature of healthcare.

On a per capita basis the US has something like 5x the MRI machines that Canada does, not so there is greater access, but because they drive fees that get the doctors paid.

The risk pool thing is bullshit, I believe something like 95% of the people in this country who have insurance already have it without having to worry about "pre-existing" conditions. IE people who are in Medicaid/Medicare and group insurance that is provided by employees. Only private individual plans are "screened."

Large numbers of unemployed people now are young, healthy people who don't want to pay for it. By adding those types of people into the risk pool, that would actually drive premiums down, since 10% of the people in this country account for more than 80% of healthcare spending.

I could go on and on.......

See, this is more interesting and productive.

No doubt that our medical system is intrinsically more expensive than others, which is both a good and a bad thing - so much so that it's almost another topic.

What I'm more interested in but haven't had the time to look into is what parts of the bill are going into effect immediately, and what effect they've had on cost. Are the cost increases simply the same as they have been over the past 5 years? Are they a direct result of policies effective now? Or are they insurance companies bracing for an unknown future?

I wish I could add to the discussion, but I can only ask questions at this point. "zomg costs went up" doesn't do anything for me; understand the issue before you freak out.

[KenC]

Ahem.

The main reason costs are going up is because the gov't is mandating what coverages insurance companies have to offer. They have to cover more things, with less restrictions and no monetary limits. That presents a new level of risk that the insurance companies have to price in.

There is also the fact that health insurance will rise more than rate of inflation, due to well inflation itself, cost of new technologies and drugs, scarity of physicians and specialists. Another main factor is the fee-driven nature of healthcare.

On a per capita basis the US has something like 5x the MRI machines that Canada does, not so there is greater access, but because they drive fees that get the doctors paid.

The risk pool thing is bullshit, I believe something like 95% of the people in this country who have insurance already have it without having to worry about "pre-existing" conditions. IE people who are in Medicaid/Medicare and group insurance that is provided by employees. Only private individual plans are "screened."

Large numbers of unemployed people now are young, healthy people who don't want to pay for it. By adding those types of people into the risk pool, that would actually drive premiums down, since 10% of the people in this country account for more than 80% of healthcare spending.

I could go on and on.......

You've been reading the book I sent for you :). Pretty interesting (read: extremely convoluted) system isn't it?

[b*saint]

I bet you voted for that fucker.

[KenC]

A lot of new and "improved" medical devices are cost/market driven as well. I've been working with a prominent joint replacement orthopedist in Portland, and see a lot of it. Joint implant companies "improve" their designs so that their "better" than their competitors, though there is no data to support it. In fact, there's no long-term data on most of the knee implants going in today. Makes it difficult to answer the "So how long will it last?" question...

[M-technik-3]

US military can't even get their Tri-Care HMO to cover most things. I can't imagine going to more dysfunctional medical system. I still have out of pocket expense myself and I have 23 years of service.

I just can't wait to back to federal service....not.

[z31maniac]

You've been reading the book I sent for you :). Pretty interesting (read: extremely convoluted) system isn't it?

Yeah, I'm just about done with it. Then I was going to let the wife read it and send it back your way.

I'm about 2/3 through with it and the guy has made a very compelling case for it so far.