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Why Is Health Insurance So Expensive?
February 9th, 2010 by admin
Every year at renewal time for insurance benefits, you probably cringe at getting the news about what your health insurance is going to cost you for the coming year. You’re not alone. It happens all over the US in small to large companies and gives the HR department nightmares.
Basically, health insurance is expensive because health care is expensive. The advances made in the past two decades have gone a long way to improving our health and diagnosing problems. But the advances came with a high price tag. We want our doctors to perform the latest and greatest tests on us.
In the past, there were fewer tests and less expensive ones. Health insurance premiums were reasonable and affordable. In many cases, your employer picked up the entire cost of the employee’s policy. The policies tended to cover just about everything and usually had just a $250 to $500 annual deductible. Well, those days are over and won’t be coming back.
Because everything used to be covered, we all got into the habit of insisting on every test and never questioning the costs. Our physicians told us which lab to use and we went. Who thought to ask how much it cost or if there was a less expensive place to run the same exact test?
Basically, we’ve been poor comsumers of health care. Because we’re insulated from the actual cost, we never made even a small attempt to ‘shop around’. We want the high-end model with all the bells and whistles and leather seats. Yet we still only want to pay the stripped-down model price.
The high cost of health insurance isn’t only attributed to our habits. That’s just one facet – but it’s the facet that we have actual control over. The next time you apply for health insurance, look for a high deductible plan that will let you keep premiums low and sock away money in a pre-taxed health savings account. While you’re waiting to satisfy your deductible, you’ll find that you’ve become much wiser at how your health expense budget is managed.