I was talking with my wife, a former BCBSofCA employee, today and the conversation veered in to the financial impact side of Covid19. According to the most recent KFF covid cost study, the average treatment cost for covid is $73,300. Even if you are insured your portion of this bill is going to be painful but that is not the worst cloud on the horizon. The evil cloud is the number of uninsured that have received treatment and have absolutely no way of paying the bill. The hospitals and doctors always have and will increase the amount billed to the insurance companies to offset the cost of treating the uninsured. The insurance companies will deny these additional costs even though they know it possibly will bankrupt a few hospitals. Fast forward to the next round of cost negotiations between the providers and the insurers and the reimbursement for care will be increased by a large amount. This increase which will be drastic will be offset by an increase in premiums.
I will now use myself as an example. We retired and relocated. To stay insured through my wife’s retirement would have cost us $900/ month. I was able to purchase the same quality and coverage insurance in our new state of residence for $390/month. Quite a difference based on which state the insurer, the same insurer, is located in. Now we have a large amount of anti-vaxxers and covid deniers in our new state of residence and all of the states that surround us and the covid numbers show that this right leaning approach to Covid 19 is the incorrect approach. This massive increase in numbers and their affiliated costs is only going to be offset by a massive increase in premiums. My prediction is that within 2 years the premiums will double if not reach the same level as the larger states; CA, NY, etc, that have a large percentage of uninsured or underinsured residents. The scream, when an insurance premium jumps from $400/month to $800 or $900/ month, will be heard around the world. My understanding and background for this prediction comes from growing up in a family involved in the health insurance industry and being married to a wonderful woman who worked for BCBS for 10 years. My insight is on a slightly higher level than the normal individual and you can put good money on my premium prediction.