Still dont know how my insurance premiums will go down.

Imagine that, success without government intervention.

My current employer pays 100% of my coverage.

What the hell does she sale?

 

No they didn't. What you pay may have gone to zero but the rates didn't.

Someone is still paying out the ass for it.

 

Hippy shit.

Ask Acree he buys from them all the time.

 

Your response confused me. Are you for a change away from the current HC system?

 

I wouldn't advertise that too much...the tax hammer might in fall that direction now that Obama has deemed profit to be evil.:tut:

 

So why is it these jackasses that want to pass this bill won't be forced to use the same plan they want to shove down our throats?

 

Because!

See Obama...that is the type of answer you need to give. Short and simple!


Medicare, we all pay for through our checks right? Why not leave Medicare for the elderly and make affordable insurance for lower income so that they don't leech away Medicare. Did you know...even with my salary I can still qualify for WIC and other programs? However, I choose not to because my salary (Thank God) affords me enough to buy food my family needs to stay healthy. I choose to leave that qualifying money for someone who truly needs it.

 

Although i dont totally agree with what Obama is doing...at least something is being done. Insurance companies raise rates every year by absurd amounts.

Here are the increases my company's preemium has had the last three years:

12% , 18% , and this year 27%....when we asked our health carrier how they could justify such an increase...they basically told us..thats just the way it is. There obviously has to be some regulation.....

 

Pass some tort reform and insurance compainies won't have to increase rates!

 

I believe the insurance companies can not raise the rates themselves, it has to be the insurance commissioners that approve the rate increases. If I'm wrong please let me know...that was just explained to me by my insurance company. Now...that was my Auto/Home insurance, but I would think it would be along the same lines no?

 

With health insurance companies profits in the hundreds of millions a quarter...i think they can afford not to raise our premium 27%....just my opinion though

 

I completely agree. However, when you speak to insurance companies...from their side they say they can't stay in business if they charge lower rates. Shoot...just wait until the healthcare side gets a hold of the way Auto insurance companies are basing rates.

I wonder if that big hike in rates for this year was in anything like gas prices rising if a storm is coming in off the Atlantic? Joe Biden said, "You know we will control the insurance rates". So with that said...does that mean they will be in control of when and how high an insurance company can raise their rates. If so, I can't help but think we will see another hike before this bill gets approved...if that's possible. Not sure how often they can do that.

 

Profit or Net Income? Is that for the industry or a single company?

 

This is a link to a site that says that the helath inurance industry is not making record profits as Obama said last year..but it odes lists profits such as:

UnitedHealth Group had reported its earnings for the second quarter of 2009, which beat analysts’ expectations with profit of $859 million

Humana Inc. logged a quarterly profit of almost $282 million

Health Net logged a $40 million profit in the spring quarter

Wellpoint’s $693 million for the quarter


see a trend??? But wait..those arent records so we should just continue as usual....

sorry forgot the link:

http://factcheck.org/2009/08/insurance-co-profits-good-but-not-breaking-records/

 

I hope someone pull the actual %. I don't think the profit margins are as big as everyone is led to believe.

I am all for reform. The current bill in its current format is a game changer, little to do with reform.

Part of the issue with cost is associated with paperwork. This is the case for both the insurance companies and medicaid/medicare. The overhead necessary to comply with the filing is enough to drive some out of these systems.

There are ways to resolve or attempt to reform HC. We only need to look into cosmetic surgery as a model.

 

The industry average net profit margin is only 4.4% thats pretty low. It's just a scare marketing tactic used by people that would gain from the legislation get support. Just like th big evil oil companies with their 6.5% net profit margin. They aren't making that much money, especially with their capital needs.

 

Is that before or after the pay $25,000,000 bonus to the CEO?

 

After. The focus on the one number is also comical. If you spread that out to all the employees of a company, they would get maybe a couple hundred dollars a year on average. It's a smart use of resources to use 1% of the general employees pay check to get a good person at the top. While we hear about the failures, there are a lot of people out there doing a good job running companies.

 

I would not mind jumping on the CEO ban wagon but fact is that CEO pay is high regardless of industry (mostly).

Mind you these salaries means revenue. Just ask NYC.

 

Who said it would? Obama did...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUd-slJc-GY&feature=player_embedded

Obama actually claims in that video that Healthcare premiums would go down up to 3,000% and people would get a raise!