The cost of medical care is expensive, even if you happen to have health insurance. This is especially true if your health insurance requires you to pay off a high deductible before coverage kicks in. A growing number of people are putting off some necessary health care specifically due to the cost. Risking your health like this increases the profits of your insurance company.
It seems as though there have been quite a few insurance companies that have increased the amount of money they are charging consumers either for health insurance premiums or as deductibles. Some of the insurance companies have insisted that they must raise their rates, in order to keep up with the cost of health care (which they are happy to point out has gone up).
Others will complain that they have to increase their rates because the the group of customers that they insure require more health care than customers have required in the past. This costs the insurance company more money then they would like, so they have to raise their rates in order to stay in business.
Or, at least, that’s what the insurance companies are saying. In reality, many of the same insurance companies that are raising their rates are making enough profit to give their shareholders more dividends than ever before.
Another factor that is making the insurance companies a lot of money is the fact that insured people are putting off using the health insurance. United Health Group noted that insured hospital stays have decreased (in some instances). Cigna has talked about the “low level” of medical use. These are just a few examples of insurance companies that are enjoying the profits that they derive from situations where an insured person refuses, or delays, getting the medical care that he or she needs.
People who have health insurance are not choosing to neglect their health. They are delaying having some of their health care needs taken care of entirely because of cost. Not all of the problem is the high cost of health insurance itself, but rather the higher cost of everything. Gas prices have increased. Some people are not going to be able to afford driving to see a specialist that is located really far away from where they live.
For other people, the problem is that they do not make enough money to be able to afford their co-pay, or their deductible. Some cannot afford to take a day off from work to go see a doctor when they are sick. This could either be due to the restrictive policies of their employer in regards to dealing with an employee’s absence, or due to running out of their allocated number of sick days. People who have health insurance that does not cover dental care avoid having dental work done, even if they really need it.
All of these factors put together are enabling insurance companies to increase their profits. The less claims they receive, the less money they must pay out. When you think about it, the system itself is entirely unhealthy.
Image by Scott Rubin on Flickr