Health costs bedeviling Americans, survey shows

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-health25oct25,1,7649608.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Health costs bedeviling Americans, survey shows
Discontent grows and retirement contributions fall as insurance prices continue to increase.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
October 25, 2006

Frustration with the rising costs of health coverage surged sharply this year, helping to explain why many voters remain uneasy about the economy despite falling gasoline prices, low unemployment and a soaring stock market.

The annual Health Confidence Survey, released today by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute, found that more than half of those surveyed — 52% — were dissatisfied with health insurance costs, a sharp increase from 33% last year.

About 6 in 10 said costs of their health plan — such as premiums, deductibles and co-payments — had gone up in the last year. Of those who said their costs had risen, more than half said they were saving less as a result.

Retirement plans took a big hit, with 36% of those who reported higher costs over the last year saying they had reduced their contributions to 401(k) plans. Of that group, 28% said that because of health-related costs, they had trouble paying for such basic necessities as housing, heat and food.

FULL story at link above.

the pharmaceutical industry is funding the GOP, in this election, according to Thom Hartmann.

makes the entire insurance industry turn its back on those who need it the most. You almost have to apologize for having something wrong with you,thru no fault of your own and yet they gouge you,refuse you and cut you off whenever possible.:mad:

they charge a huge unaffordable monthly, a huge unaffordable deductable,
and the cost of any kind of treatments is huge. Sounds like a Huge Racket to me!
What a joke and the joke's on us!:silly:

Fire Corporate America!:grr:
I'm sick and tired of all of them scooping all of the money from the bottom and bringing it to the top!

She paid into a health plan for 27 years. In 2000, she developed thyroid cancer. A year after her surgery to successfully remove her tumor, her insurance filed bankruptcy. No one will insure her now (and the ones that will want a premium that is impossible to pay), so she hasn't been back to the doctor for her yearly body scans. Last month she found a large lump in her side, and one morning she couldn't get out of bed because she was in so much pain. My dad brought her to the emergency room, where she was treated so shamelessly because of her lack of insurance. The receptionist was really rude and the doctor was pushing her to go the a charity hospital (which was 60 miles away) for better service. She asked him why he didn't want to run any tests and he said that people without insurance tend to sue doctors, therefore, he wasn't able to do much more for her than take an X-ray. They discharged her and told her to go to charity, never giving her the results of her X-ray. My parents are so upset with the situation because they had insurance for so long, but through no fault of their own, can't get it for my mother anymore. It is a shame that you can treat people this way in America.

Anyway, just my rant because we are going through this my mom right now.

Ya won't have any health insurance.

Period.

Healthcare is destroying American families. They just don't have the guts to say so. It influences every decision.

And it screws over the economy as small start-up ventures can't afford the insurance to attract top talent, thereby crapping on innovation.

...went up 8% this year. Our country has to go to a single pay system, cause right now it's completely broken.

Health insurance costs are killing me.

:kick:

:eyes:

my premium is actually going down in '07, all of 1.3%. It's only because I have Federal BCBS and the Feds have huge bargaining power. Still, I'll have enough out of pocket health expenses to itemize this year since not everything is covered.

God, how I feel for anyone without insurance. To have to go without or into debt in the US to receive proper healthcare is crimnal.

made an effort to propose universal healthcare back in the beginning of his first term the corporate monsters came out in droves and threw millions of dollars into propaganda to villify their proposals and many people bought the lies. It takes Americans a very long time to wake up in this country. They only get concerned when it affects their own pocketbooks.

health insurance, then, when they face a serious illness, they learn the insurance covers only a fraction of the cost. Bankruptcy is bankruptcy is bankruptcy.

You can't declare bankruptcy if your debt is for medical expenses, remember? They took that away from us (in 2004, wasn't it?).

expenses in the last 7 years, by my best guess, and WE HAVE INSURANCE.

Unfortunately, the way things are set up in this country, if you make enough to pay taxes, you don't qualify for Medicaid or SSI, either.

Sucky, high deductable, low coverage insurance that I pay for.

Like many millions of Americans, I save all I can and have a decent nest egg, but I'm only an extended hospital stay away from financial ruin. This is ridiculous.

or other low/no income programs have a cap on earnings, so it forces us to live in poverty to have healthcare

hmmm- healthcare or food, healthcare or food... hello, food pantry.

...just got our property tax bill- need to have $600 by beginning of Dec., time for "creative financing"... our property tax is equal to one month of Hubby's SSDI... I guess we are lucky, though...

I have an acquaintance whose son has hemophilia. Guy has a college degree, but had to take a job as a janitor so they'd qualify for medicaid. Has to turn down raises so they don't lose everything.

That is just screwed up.

They keep on making noise about medical savings accounts, tort reform, and other little teensy pinkie-bandaids they're proposing to this gushing fiscal wound.

I think Dems should pound them bloody on this every damn day until Tuesday, and with one voice declare it proudly that it is high time we dismantled the corporate welfare for private insurers and went to a single-payer system.

For fuck's sake, in my hillbilly Georgia district, the Dem challenger is for single payer!

from http://allanburns.com/more/index.cfm?Fuseaction=more_12804

The status quo is completely unsustainable.

Is it good social policy to force people to go broke to save their lives?

:grr:

I am glad I have the coverage at all.

completely for my health insurance. Next year we pay $50 a month. Admittedly that is not a lot for pretty good insurance, but from starting at paying nothing for as long as I have been here, to having to pay, that is a big new unpleasant leap. And right now, every dollar counts in my budget. Oh yeah, and don't look for pay raises any time in the foreseeable future.

insurance. I just spoke with two of my doctors about this. Both worry that insurance companies are lowering payments for their services, so they are feeling the pinch just like the rest of the middle class.

Surprisingly, both brought up the fact that in Canada doctors don't have to worry about that since they negotiate rates with provincial governments annually.

Check with your doctor next time. You might be surprised at the support for single payer in the health care industry.