Kaiser Outlines Future of Health Ins. And It Ain't Pretty

For those who are confused about what the future means in terms of health care costs (as well as the past relative to income), you need to read the new information from Kaiser Family Foundation (if you don't know, Kaiser is the largest non-profit health care provider in California).

The first number was the average cost of a family health insurance policy in 2009: $13,375. To put that number in context, if you are an employer, you can hire an employee at the minimum wage for about $15,000 per year. If you are a consumer, you can rent an average two-bedroom apartment nationwide for $11,136 per year (though it is quite a bit more here in Menlo Park, California where our Foundation is based). You can also buy a new Chevy Aveo for $12,000, and it gets 35 miles per gallon on the highway.

Let's do some very simple arithmetic. Start with a fairly conservative assumption: If we assume that premium increases over the next ten years will average what they did over the last five (about 6.1% per year), the average premium for a family policy in 2019 will be $24,180. That's a big number. On the other hand, if we assume increases revert to the average of the last ten years—an average annual increase of about 8.7% and a very plausible scenario—premiums in 2019 will average a whopping $30,803, a very scary number (Figure 1).

Now I know some of you may not even blink at this information, but most of you will probably be aghast. When my health insurance costs would be double that of my mortgage, something is dreadfully wrong.

Here's another nifty video on United Health Group. Think their CEO will take a nice hefty pay cut just to help? Yeah... right.

Be As Rich As Ed!

Here's a neat new 30 sec. commercial on healthcare.

Just for the record, if anyone makes over $5K/hour, as Ed does/did as CEO of Cigna, please contact me. I need a loan (to buy insurance!).



Hat Tip: dKos.

Please Do This For Me, I Need Your Help

Please read my story and understand why the issue of health care is so important to me. Please.

If you have not seen Moore's film, Sicko, about the health care debacle that is American insurance, you must.

You can go HERE and watch the entire film. This is a funny and powerful film that touches on every aspect of American health insurance (or not).

Then, go HERE and watch an insurance industry exec, Cigna's self-retired former Vice President of Corporate Communications, Wendell Potter, say that Moore's film was right on in an interview with Bill Moyers.

Moyers exposes the insurance companys' campaign to discredit Moore and keep me and tens and tens of millions of people like me untreated, or under-insured. And to cancel people like YOU that have insurance, at least until you need it.

Between the two of the above, I was sobbing. Still am.

Between the two films above, it explains how and why we are in the position we are in and WHY you are not safe: Even if you ARE INSURED. And Moyers discusses the politics of it all.

*****

My Story

What you may not know is that my brother--my ONLY brother and my ONLY sibling, my mother's only son, my sister-in-law's only husband, my niece and and nephews only father--died because his insurance company was "considering" whether he could have a medical test.

During that "consideration" period, my fun, hard-working, creative and wonderful brother climbed into bed, said he did not feel well, and was dead three minutes later.

Had an insurance company not been invovled, my brother would have gone for the test, they would have easily found the problem, and he would have been immediately admitted to a hospital. He wasn't. He's dead.

I had cancer. I am a cancer survivor. I am uninsurable. I have no insurance.

When I get sick or injured, I go to the emergency room. I do my best not to and should have gone more times than I have ever gone. The terrible reality for me is that I am embarassed to ask for help at a hospital. I feel inadequate.

When I broke my arm falling from a wall onto the street, I went to the hospital. They x-rayed my arm, confirmed the break, put it in a sling, and gave me a few names of doctors to go to.

The next day, I called the doctors. They didn't take payments. I ended up calling EVERY orthopedist in Orange County and every clinic. Not one would take payments.

I left my arm in a sling. It took me almost two years to get my left arm to heal on its own and get mobility back.

When I had severe chest pains, I drove myself to the hospital. They confirmed I had had a a heart event but didn't understand exactly what had happened. They wanted me to stay in the hospital at least overnight for more tests, but because I was uninsured (I was working full time for a small company who did not offer it and I did not make enough to pay for ANY insurance that a company would offer given my cancer history), I ended up being sent home with a prescription for nitroglycerin and a warning that given where I live, if I had a serious event then or in the future, I would die.

I remain undiagnosed, and untreated. I was in the hospital for perhaps four hours. The bill was $5K. I could not pay the bill.

Those of you with insurance paid for me. That's the rip. You are ALREADY paying for health care for the uninsured, but at the highest rate possible.

Who knows how long my feet will walk this beautiful earth. I love this place. I have spent the majority of my adult life defending this beautiful place, paid, and mostly not. I have no interest in being dead. None. I am only 55. My brother died at 52. My mom is 95 and on Medicare and gets wonderful care. I know--I am with her at every appointment.

This post IS about me. This post is to ask for your help.

When you understand what is possible, and what is involved with an American health care option (or best, and cheapest) single payer health care, you will not be so afraid. And if YOU have health care insurance, you will understand YOU are not safe under the current system.

Please, for me, your friend, will you help? Will you watch the Moore film and listen to Potter talk about the insurance industry and admit that his very company, Cigna, targeted Moore's film out of fear of the truth?

Every few days I post a call list for particular states and for all states to influence politicians who are receiving obscene amounts of money to stop any form of national health care. These are calls to politicians who hold MY LIFE in their hands, and yours as well. Will you please help me--and yourselves--by making these calls?

Don't be shy. Remember, our Congress members have the best insurance in the land and we foot the tab. Shouldn't we have the same option?

I am, literally, one of the least of these. As uncomfortable for me it is to ask for help, I am asking--begging, really--for your help.

Will you help me? And if you are not willing, will you at least tell me why you won't help me, Cany?

I can take the hits.

I cannot take not knowing why people are unwilling to help. And I cannot understand why anyone would feel that calling your elected officials is, somehow, "someone else's" job.

The Mark of the Feminist, McCain Advisor on Health Care

Palin, falsely branded as a feminist, might best be judged by her actions: She is seen but not heard.

In continuing efforts to keep her away from press that knows more about world affairs and foreign policy--let alone economics--that she does, her "handlers" have again taken the unusual tactic of shutting out the press. Note this is a CBS article, nothing from a progressive journal.

Anyone who has dealt with media knows that there is nothing sweeter than good press, and nothing more devastating than bad press. The Palin approach is to avoid the latter since the former is impossible at least when it comes to issues of the day.

There was an alleged reason (maybe communication was in the wrong astrological house?), as mentioned here in The Atlantic.com.

I just don't know how much more obvious they can be... until, of course today when McSame decided to bow out of the debate on Friday. That is an entirely 'nother post.

When they cannot answer, scream 'sexism'. When you know you are going to get beaten up in a debate, bow out to attend to business. Nevermind that McCain is directly responsible for the anti-regulatory schemes and privatization that has knifed Americans in the back while lifting our wallets. And nevermind that he has 27 lobbyists working for his campaign, including his rove-child, Steve. Nevermind that he lied about lobbying for Freddie (and being paid for it) to its dissolution, lying about his status.

No one in that campaign is able to tell the truth. No one.

*****

I have been meaning to touch upon the issue of health care coming from the McCain camp. More Bizzaro World, from the Dallas Morning News:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

I don't know what planet Goodman lives on but perhaps he has never HAD to have this kind of intervention as a policy of last resort. But I have.

When I was uninsured and broke my elbow, I went to the emergency. They x-rayed it, confirmed what I already knew, put it in a sling and told me to go see a doctor. I had just lost my job where I didn't have insurance to start with.

For two days, I called every clinic and bone doc in the county. NOT ONE would take payments. So, I let it heal on its own. I had limited movement of that arm for almost one year. I am also a cancer survivor, so just ask yourself how easy I am to insure.

My ex, who has juvenile onset diabetes, cannot even GET insurance. When very ill and in the hospital, they would not have a specialist in to see him because he was uninsured. The treating physician told me this to my face when I asked. He was visibly embarassed, as he should have been even though it was not his fault. I told him--and this was 15 years ago--he should get off his butt and do something about it. My ex cannot possibly be the only one who has experienced this.

The irony is that McCain, married to money, is covered by the Senate's insurance coverage and of course has the ability to pay way beyond that. He cannot be privately insured as he is a four-time cancer patient.

Ironically, his ticket partner, Palin, has a Down's child--meaning, unable to get private insurance there either.

But Goodman goes even farther:

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Neocon-speak. If you don't like reality, just change the reality.