There's a just released report from AHIP about record enrollment in High Deductible Junk Insurance Plans.
I am one of those who had no alternative but to purchase high deductible junk insurance when my insurer in New York State (which has no regulations on what insurers can charge) increased my premium 28% the last time I renewed. I now live in the land of the dangerously underinsured, with no relief except huge premium increases until I am able to access a health insurance exchange in 2014.
From the AHIP report:
Market Overview
As of January 2010, approximately 10 million people were covered by HSA/HDHP products. This represents an increase of 2.0 million since January 2009, 3.9 million since January 2008, 5.5 million since January 2007, 6.8 million since January 2006, and 9.0 million since March 2005 (see Figure 1 and Table 1).
This is a good day and a great report for the insurance industry. They want us to buy high deductible insurance because it shifts the risk from them to us.
First a quick background on High deductible junk insurance. High deductible insurance is the Republican solution to the U.S. healthcare catastrophe. High Deductible insurance coupled with what is called a HSA (Health Savings Account)puts you in charge of your precious healthcare dollars. This was, and continues to be the Republican answer to providing healthcare to the American people.
Problem is, despite the self-serving AHIP report, how many Americans living paycheck to paycheck can stash away some serious bucks in a health savings account? In recent years, the contribution limits have been about $3,000 for individuals and about $6,000 for family coverage. The limits are indexed for inflation and adjusted each year. Not many Americans have the financial resources for this sort of discretionary outlay. Though AHIP blasts repeatedly in its "census" that people at all income levels are happily stashing money in their HSAs. Simply not true.
I urge you to read this fact sheet on High Deductible Health Insurance from Physicians for a National Health Plan. You can read it here.
Here's the inconvenient truth from the PNHP fact sheet for AHIP and anyone else who thinks Consumer Directed High Deductible healthcare is anything but a sham and fraud.
Patients with a serious injury, illness or chronic disease, however, will rapidly deplete their HSA savings. They will face the full brunt of the skimpy benefits of their HDHP (both in deductible and co-insurance, which at a typical level of 20% of hospital and physician costs, could quickly bankrupt a middle-class family).
Thus, "consumer-directed" health care intentionally shifts costs (and risk) from insurers to patients. Already, 40 percent of Americans aged 18-65 (77 million) report problems with medical debt and reduced access to health care due to debt and costs. Half of all personal bankruptcies are related to medical bills and injury.
Here's more reality. Health insurance premiums are skyrocketing and the only insurance tens off millions Americans can afford is High Deductible junk insurance. In fact many studies have shown that High Deductible plans have the unintended consequence of actually raising healthcare costs. When costs are shifted onto the backs of you and me, we delay care and when we get it are often sicker than had we had decent coverage int he first place.
Research does show that CDHP enrollees clearly demonstrate cost-conscious behavior, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). But several organizations, including the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), Families U.S.A., the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), the Commonwealth Fund, and even the EBRI, say that shifting costs to employees can delay needed treatment. That can mean that when beneficiaries receive care, they are sicker. Delays, then, may raise overall costs.
. . .According to the New York Times, Fidelity Investments recently surveyed employees at various companies who had opted for a high-deductible health plan linked to a health savings account. About half of those workers said they or a family member had chosen not to seek medical care for minor ailments as many as four times in the past year to avoid out-of-pocket expenses.
http://www.managedcaremag.com/...
Whether or not the subsidies in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will be adequate, and will enable Americans to purchase decent private insurance is a long way off and remains to be seen.
"There is nothing in the law that limits what insurers can charge," said DeAnn Friedholm, health reform coordinator for Consumers Union.
http://www.google.com/...
Until then, the only option for millions of Americans is to buy if they can afford it, for-profit High Deductible junk insurance and then to pray they don't ever need to give it a test drive to experience its inadequacies.And, looking ahead, though we don't know if High Deductible Plans will be offered in the 2014 health exchanges, it seems unlikely they will even meet the minimum actuarial values required by the legislation.
But until that magnificent day in 2014 when all Americans (except those who will qualify forChuck Schumer's affordability waiver) can get the affordable health care insurance we've been promised, the only insurance millions of Americans can afford is High Deductible junk insurance.
We've been asked to be patient, we're told the new 21st century private insurance to be unveiled in 2014, will be affordable and will protect us from nasty things like medical bankruptcy due to inadequate coverage. Junk insurance will be a thing of the past. Let's hope so. Only time will tell.
We welcome and thank you for your support in fighting insurer atrocities.
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