Family health premiums: $13,375 a year
Add in the thousands of deductibles individuals pay and you figure it out.

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In a discussion with other small business owners today we all decided to flip the equation as most employees think health insurance is their rite and have no comprehension of benefit cost to their employers. They certainly dont want to see any government intervention.

Memo to staff:
Starting now we decided we can no longer continue  paying your premiums. We would contribute just 100.00 dollars a month instead to the health care plan of your choice. Dental is gone. Its fair.
The monthly cost averages would only be around 1100 per month after our contribution for small families and individuals. Of course a little better coverage might add a grand or two.

The fact that government is mandating employers to carry the costs and our customers are balking at the increased cost of goods and services we decided that we can no longer afford it.

We hope you will stay with us but if not Oh well.

SORRY and GOOD LUCK!

(Memo not for real but it was a discussion and a preview of things to come.)

Thats exactly right, Brew.
The issue is the astronomical costs...but politicians have smoke-screened the issue into 'which checkbook should we use to pay these astronomical costs'? 

Health-care premiums and medical expenses are the single largest expense for a LOT of American families.  What used to be relatively incidental is now prohibitively expensive. 

I don't know how to fix it.  Hell, I don't even know what the problems are that are beyond my own nose.  But I do know that the real issue of costs and covered services is not being dealth with at all.

Quote:

My problem too $$$.  They keep saying this about reducing the cost of healthcare.  I have yet to see what makes up the current cost of healthcare.  Is it the cost of medicine, proceedures, doctor's fees, insurance company profits?

They aren't talking about reducing the cost of healthcare, they're talking about ruducing the cost to consumers via subsidies.

Strewth! I have often wondered what the problem was when you people in the States kept on about health insurance but now I understand; if you got to pay $13G for insurance I would be wanting a four poster bed & the best looking nurses money could buy.

Here in Oz we have the National Health Scheme administered by a Federal Government department “Medicare”; anyone who makes a wage, salary or is on welfare payment have 1.5% deducted from their pay packet to cover this health scheme.

The system works pretty well depending I guess on your own opinion; in the city I can go to a GP for a standard consultation & be charged a fee of $35:00 & not have to fork out any cash myself the Doctor bulk bills Medicare once I sign the form with my Medicare embossed over it.

Here in the country area the thieving pirates calling themselves Doctors charge $100:00 for a standard consultation but Medicare still only pays the $35:00 so I have to pay the $65:00 myself, I guess that’s just the privilege of living in the bush.

I also have private insurance that covers on average 80% of eyes/spectacles, dental, hospital, ambulance & if I need it the cost of being flown to a Regional Centre or City by the Flying Doctor Service is covered.

With the National Health cost 3% for Nina & I of about $2000 & our Private health cost of $2300 we are doing pretty well when compared to you guys in the States.

Here’s a sample that can be used as a comparison:
BOC Australia invoice annual cylinder rental
                                          Units     Months     Monthly rate      Amount
Oxygen Medical C Size (small)      1      12            $7.50              $90:00
Oxygen Medical E Size (large)      1      12            $12.11            $145.35
                                                                                        $235.32
My private health covers the full cost of the annual rental & covers 50% of the refill cost to a maximum of $600:00 per year.

Cheers
Barry

Bullshit argument. IMHO.

Let me say again. WE DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE ANYTHING BUT REGULATIONS OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES. They have become too strong and too poweful.
Small businssses will fail as unions tweek the arm strings of this president. SEIU?????? What are their worth to America?.

Would you like to make $10.00 an hour and belong to a union??? Who also takes money from, YOU, for their own political cause and spends it on themselves?

Or would you like to make $13-$15 per hour at a business you like, without pressures from someone who has other interestes in your money.....????

Fu_k.... Unions used to help people...not anymore.

Barry thanks for that comparison.

I am all for adopting your national health policies.

An interesting point in comparing Australian doctor and nurse wages to the U.S. wages they are very similar with only a small wage advantage to the US. Yet the overall care costs are incredibly different. the quality of care is certainly comparable to a well insured individual here.

Remember the 13,375 is only a median cost. As the larger corporations will have highly negotiated pricing and the smaller employers will be as much as double the costs for insurance.
In many cases coverage for a family runs above 30k per year with deductibles included and then add in a policy cap of say 1 million dollars easily reached in catastrophic illness here. and there is no way for the vast majority of americans to survive financially.
If you use the median costs only and assuming an hourly rate of pay the average persons benefit costs in the USA exceed 6.50 per hour worked over a year.

I just read an article in biz week magazine that insurance costs to employers are expected to rise over the next 10 years at an avg of 166% that means that health ins benefit costs will for employers exceed 29,000 per employee per year as the median.
according to the article.

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Those are a decidedly slanted business viewpoint.

Everything falls in step. No longer remotely cost effective to hire employees in our country, cant afford to make anything, A pack of chewing gum will cost $9.95, A plumber or electrician will cost 410.00 per hour. Unemployment will rise to 50-60%. A mcdonalds cheeseburger fries and a soda will cost 19.00 ( that to cover the costs of management, employees, logistics and operations benefits, Foods may become a black market commodity and the likes of those U.S. foods companies we see failing now will increase exponentially.

After you brought this up, I starting looking for info - can't find any.

Doesn't make sense to offer a solution without knowing where the problem is.

Marc

JeffB wrote on Sep 18^th, 2009 at 9:39pm:


my dad is proud retired teamster. when he joined the teamsters back in the early 1970 he bought a brand new mack for $19,000 and had it paid of in 10 months. you could be a teamster and be an independent. you could own a few trucks and be the boss and still be a teamster. teamsters covered all aspects of trucking back then. now they are limited to garbage truck drivers in cities like NYC and maybe 5 ltl carriers. many drivers are getting laid off from roadway a teamster companies and comming to con-way. many of these drivers have over 25 years in with the teamsters and needless to say they are bitter. i had breakfast with an ex roadway driver and his buddy still employed by them. teamsters insurance is getting picky about what they will cover, they are up for another pay cut and they already make less than we do. their leaders have borrowed from their future for years and now their future is just about used up

Funny thread.
The insurer argument is a straw-man in support of socialized health care for consumption by the uneducated.

I laugh when people slam the insurers. 
The medical community loathes the insurers for paying out low UCRs, far under what the medical providers typically charge.

The reality is that the big insurers typically have operating margins under 6%, with profit margins under 4%. 

News flash... Health care is expensive.  Someone who makes $10 or $15 an hour simply is not contributing enough to the national economy to cover that expense. 

Lobter,
I tend to agree with much of what you said.  I just went through this with my ENT.  He thought I had polyps in my sinus cavities.  He ordered a CAT scan.  Way back when I had them the first time, I had a simple x-ray done.

*If* lawsuits are not much of a worry, ie tort reforn, why put someone through a bunch of unneccessary tests?