Health-care costs are quietly eating away at American wages.
Employer-sponsored insurance premiums have jumped dramatically in the last 20 years, from almost $6,000 in 1999 to more than $18,000 in 2016, according to a report released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive Washington-based economic think tank. Those health-care expenses accounted for 51.7% of the average annual earnings for the bottom 90% of the workforce in 2016, compared to 25.6% in 1999.
Out-of-pocket costs have also soared. Between 2006 and 2016, out-of-pocket expenses rose more than 53%. Insurers are paying more too; their costs increased 48.5% over the same time frame. As a result, people are spending record amounts of money on health care. In 2016, medical expenses accounted for 17.4% of gross domestic product — the total value of all the goods and services produced in the country — up from 8.4% in 1979 and 5.2% in 1963.
This rising price of health care costs families thousands of dollars a year in foregone wages, out-of-pocket costs and increased taxes, said Josh Bivens, research director at EPI. “Rising health costs are the clearest sign of how dysfunctional the American health care sector is,” he said. “We spend far more for the same — or worse — quality health care as our international peers, which has a tremendous impact on typical workers’ wages and their ability to secure health care on the job.”
Along with more expensive co-pays and deductibles, employers are pressured to take a bigger cut of their employees’ wages to pay for insurance premiums, it added. Workers may not directly see how those expenses affect their paychecks, but he said it’s one reason wages have been stagnant for most workers.
“If employer contributions to employer-sponsored premiums had remained constant as a share of cash wages since 1979, cash compensation could have been $387 billion higher by 2016 for the total labor force, or $327 billion higher for the bottom 90%,” the EPI report concluded. “For the bottom 90% of full-time-equivalent employees, this would imply cash wages that were higher by roughly $2,740 on average.”
The U.S. health-care system ranks last in numerous categories among other wealthy, advanced countries, according to a report released by the Commonwealth Fund last year, even though the U.S. spends the most on health care per capita. What’s more, medical offices and health insurance providers don’t always agree on what’s covered by insurance companies.
It’s a racket.
It’s a legal racket.
You know what organizations are “robber barrons” by the soaring palaces they build. What industries exist in such splendor?
Hospitals. (Can’t avoid.)
Insurance Company buildings. (Can’t avoid.)
Banks. (Can’t avoid.)
Pharma and Medical Device firms. (Can’t avoid.)
Universities (which we CAN avoid.)
They’re all bleeding us dry.
People respond to incentives.
Firms engaged in the Medical and Medical “Insurance” fields have an incentive to asset-strip every American of everything he or she has.
Reports show that “medicare supplement insurance” and copays are even allowing the Medical-Insurance-Services-Cartel to reach through seniors to get their Social Security payments.
We are being robbed blind, deaf and dumb by hospital systems and their Insurance-Co co-conspirators. ‘
Because “health is a right.” Avoidance of poverty is NOT.
Answer to the problem?
Opt out, if possible.
Charity based cooperatives, shared healthcare costs = lower premiums and lower out of pocket.
Another: research medical tourism and Jud Anglin for major surgery procedures outside of US system.
Even with travel costs, the end result is 50-70% less in say, Thailand, with state of the art Drs., equipment, and facilities, for the same operation. And they’ll tell you what it will cost up front.
Not for everyone, but there are alternatives.
……https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product
Progress is sick and dying people. See how good we have it in AmeriKa.
The doctor doesn’t make any money if you’re well in the Medical Industrial Complex.
The weapons manufactures don’t make any money if there’s peace in the Military Industrial Complex.
The private prison contractors don’t make any money in the Prison Industrial Complex if there isn’t maximum incarceration in the U.S. prison system.
The lawyers, judges and equity courts don’t make any money in the Divorce Industrial Complex if more people stay married as opposed to the system encouraging easy divorce.
AmeriKas economy consists of a series of industrial complexes. Nothing good comes out of any of them. Sickness, death, war, torn families, etc.,.. There is no positive effect on it’s population. So what is a GDP that is largely based upon these institutions that produce nothing good in society? How is this a measure of a society’s progress?
GDP is largely a measure of waste.
It has been 10 years since I left the dental business but even back then it was common that insurance plans took 25-35% of premium dollars just to administer the plans. I learned the name of the game for the carriers was to deny deny deny. And limit the yearly benefit to about the cost of one crown.
It took one or more of my employees full time duty to file claims as a courtesy for clients. My goal was to eliminate insurance claims from my practice; as they began to implement usual and customary charges that in no way reflected the costs of first class treatment with the most modern procedural methods. I once had flat fees for most procedures but when insurance began to limit disbursement for a procedure, one had to play the name/number game to include fees for every little thing. I heard consultants give presentations on how to maximize fees based on nit picking. It reeked of exploitation to me. But was the only way to turn a profit if you were a provider for large corporate plans.
And that was for a system dominated by independent dental operators. Add to the equation hospital admin costs plus legal costs from malpractice and general employee expenses, I would imagine most costs are not for actual treatments.
The benefits from economies of scale are sucked up by corporate entities and Wall Street vampires.
Whew, glad I no longer have to deal with it. And when I sold my practice the buyer gave me handshake deal to do my dental work gratis.
Ignore your teeth.
They’ll go away.
Trump supporters are never accused of defending freedom.
Here’s a tip……Live healthy,and avoid their racket.
I work for a company with less than 200 employees. My monthly premium for family coverage is $416, zero deductible, office visits are $25 copay. There was no premium increase from 2017-2018. Hoping there will not be one in 2019. I recently had a $27,000 operation and only paid the $25 copay for the surgeon consult prior to surgery.
Now if only the dental plan was that good…spent >$5k for wife’s dental work this year after exceeding allowable maximum for 2 root canals and 2 crowns.
Was this in Mississippi? West Virginia? Are they Witch Doctors?
They keep using the term health care costs interchangeably with insurance premiums. They are not the same thing. I don’t think anyone has any idea what health care costs are. Self pay pays one price, insurance companies pay another and a huge portion of the population pays nothing at all.
We dropped out of the insurance racket 10 years ago and saved 300K by paying for our own health care rather than the premiums.
I had two charities that paid for my heart surgery. Christian charities.
In other words, you are a low-life freeloader.
If you had any sense of decency whatsoever, you would pay them back since you are gainfully employed. But you won’t, because you are a free-shit douche, just like the people you constantly moan about.
Piece of shit.
Try this as well-substantial numbers of Americans are paying over 30% of income on rents:
(long article but worth a scan as well as some decent graphs)
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-08/half-american-renters-struggle-unaffordable-housing-costs-study-finds
No Shit , but the gold plated dimond studded illegal negro president promised I’m saving $2,500.00 bucks and when I find it I’m going to Disney World mutha fucker !