Amen Joe.

The govt. keeps telling us that there is little to no inflation. How do they explain this?

What is worse is that more and more people cannot afford health insurance at all despite all the promises of Obamacare.

Everybody is having their wealth squeezed out of them from many different angles. This is in the form of lower income, lower asset prices, higher taxes and fees and higher insurance premiums, gasoline and food costs.

Meanwhile, it's all set up so that companies like Wellpointe make a profit no matter what double digit price increases; and the corrupt regulators (many of which lobbyists that have infiltrated our regulatory institutions) allow them to get away with all of this.

At some point, it will become clear that the only answer to this issue is national health care - a single-payer plan. It works great for both Medicare and the V.A. To allow a glorified bean counter in an executive suite to pass a death sentence on another human simply because he or she doesn't have enough cash is utterly depraved. Can we allow this to be the legacy of our nation?

For those who believe they can buy better care, there is no reason they cannot pay more from their own pockets for such care, or purchase additional insurance for that purpose.

It is critically important that we - all of us - assess and/or reassess our view of death. Most medical costs - estimates range as high as 90% - occur in the last two years of our lives. As medical advances lengthen our life spans in very fragile bodies, those costs can only increase.

Visit a nursing home some time, or ask someone who knows of someone in a vegetative state. Talk to your doctor. Forget this "death panel" nonsense and investigate this for yourself.

We are not meant to live forever and we must decide whether life-sustaining measures that we view as heroic are not in fact, quite stupid.

I categorically reject religion, but wisdom can be found in many places and I borrow this from:

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot.....

yea, socialized medecine so you can get a lung transplant from a 30+ year smoker who died from pneumonia. that lady dies a couple of weeks later. thats britains system. or just wait for 18 months for approval for a joint replacement. has anybody seen anything the government does that works. post office, medicare is broke, social security is broke, doctors are discussing not participating in medicare any more. it dont pay them enough to file the paper work. get real. health care costs are because iof law suits. $1+ million for some old woman who dumped her coffee in her lap. how many more like that. doctors treat to cover their ass from lawyers and it costs. so the insurance compannies have to charge more to turn a profit. and their profit margin is one of the lowest listed . i know losing a loved one is terrible, buit how many people who die are actually worth 3 or 4 million dollars. how many would earn that much in what is left of their life. there has top be a stopping place. or we will not be able to afford any care at all.

If every person who was sick and tired of being extorted by the wholly corrupt insurance industry picked up the phone tomorrow morning and canceled their coverage we might collectively finally have their attention and the dumb asses in congress to boot. Actually they both would be completely crapping their pants from which would be priceless.

Hell, You're not even buying insurance. Insurance is supposed to make you whole from a catastrophic loss. Most of the health "insurance" sold in the U.S. today is actually pre-paid health care. For example does your auto insurance cover you for oil changes and tires? Of course not but we expect our health insurance to cover check ups etc. That's not the purpose of insurance at all.

I pay every last penny for my families health care out of pocket and I practice what I preach. You want humor? Try calling a few local Dr.'s offices to get quotes for the kids check-ups and vaccinations. Half the time they can't even begin to tell you (just imagine if it was a major procedure). And therein lies half the problem. The marketplace has been so completely corrupted that competition and pricing are irrelevant to the very providers who ultimately bill you. Huh? Get a clue people. The health insurance / provider / government cabal is a very cozy menage a trois but ultimately it is you the consumer that is getting 100% screwed.

For the top brass at the big health plans, there also was a wide range in pay changes between 2007 and 2008. Three executives — Jay Gellert, president and CEO of Health Net; Angela Braly, president and CEO of WellPoint; and Aetna Chair and CEO Ronald Williams — saw boosts in total compensation. Williams’ went up by 5%, from $23 million to $24.3 million; Braly’s by 8%, from $9 million to $9.8 million; and Gellert’s by 20%, from $3.6 million to $4.4 million.

Another reason why your health insurance rates keeps going up.

Thanks ob you meddling freakin idiot

"Insurance is supposed to make you whole from a catastrophic loss. Most of the health "insurance" sold in the U.S. today is actually pre-paid health care."

Exactly I now happily pay for any non-hospital costs out of pocket and have a catastrophic policy for hospital costs over $5,000 to "insure" me from going bankrupt. My policy costs half of what a prepaid medical policy would cost and since I have taken care of myself my whole life I am healthy and have only needed to pay for the occasional checkup. That will no longer be allowed under Obamacare. Thanks to those a$$holes Obama, Pelosi and Reid my premiums will easily double because they bribed the insurance companies to go along with them by upping the required minimum coverage. The same exact bribe that required everyone to get coverage or be penalized. To buy that policy today would cost me an additional $4,000 annually. Millions of people have the same type of policy as I do but are unaware how badly they just got f@cked and won't find out until after the 2012 elections. I can not emphasize this enough:

Up yours Obama, Pelosi and Reid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone in the industry knows this is going to be a total failure, except the insurance companies and agents who are licking their chops.

If you fix the cost problem, you will automatically fix the coverage problem. When you address these problems in reverse, as congress and the administration have done, it will only drive up costs for ALL.

Our best hope is a sweep in November and a nullification of that bill soon after.

Our Best Hope is Eliminating Health Insurance Companies and having a National Healthcare System like Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Belgium, Israel - Which American Taxpayers FULLY Pay for and Fund - Spain, Portugal and the list goes on and on and on. This whole American National Healthcare Insurance SCAM is A WorldClass DISGRACE which is making US the laughing stock -Does anyone KNOW that US Healthcare CEO take home pay for 2007 was $128,000,000?

America is fashioned and named the "Seat Of World Capitalism" for World investors to make money in. Hey World Investors!!! look at US!!! NO National Healthcare System, Americans dying by the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, for lack of adequate healthcare, 22% Unemployment NO decent jobs or careers while corporations outsource jobs, GE made over $100Billion Dollars from "foreign job adminstration" and paid NO Taxes, Our national waters being polluted by uncaring oil company drilling, two wars costing ONE TRILLION DOLLARS - $1,000,000,000,000 all the profit here for corporations and arms people, Unchecked Rampant Wall Street moneychanger shell game fraud which US taxpayers must fund on their losses while Americans suffer terribly broken and DRUGGED by BIG Pharma so we can't revolt BUT HEY!!!!! Come On!! this is proof that we mean BUSINESS for the world corporate class to make Money in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Is A National Disgrace whose humor has LONG Worn Off and It Must Change NOW...............

no if we don't buy the ins we get find and if we do we don't eat or have a house to live in but by god we will have ins what a joke. the bills go up the price of evething going up but not wages

If we don't vote them all out shame on us. vote there asses out they are the only making out excipt there friend wall street

show them with your vote

Just go to the emergency room and don't pay your bill. Eventually, the insurance and medical care system will go broke from not being paid and we will have forced a single-payer medical care system and everyone will be covered and not going broke or losing homes, from paying outrageous insurance premiums and overpriced medical care!! GO SINGLE PAYER !!

So I have a question. The average employer-paid premium for an employee with a family was $13,375. Some posters on here in the last year or so mentioned even higher insurance premium rates - higher, even, than a year's gross earnings at minimum wage, full time, of $15,080.

The current limit for gifting, where no taxes are incurred by the recipient, and the gift reduces income from the giver (and thus the tax liability), is $13,000/year.

The question is, does that gift rule apply to companies - or is there a way to make these gifts through companies? Because if so, the employer could gift each employee with a family $13,000/year (and appropriate percentage for singles); that employee could put the money in some investment instrument that was still readily accessible (or savings, whatever), and most people could pay their medical costs themselves each year or save it til they need it. And since it would be after-tax dollars, there wouldn't be a penalty for withdrawing if they had to for medical costs.

Right now, employer-paid premiums are not usually taxed as income, so the idea is to get that money to the employee for medical expenses without income tax impact where the employer still gets the write-off.

It accomplishes two things - provides for medical bills and cuts the middleman insurance companies out so that it won't matter anymore if they raise premiums - because NO ONE would be participating. LOL

This survey demonstrates exactly why we need a single payer (public) option. $13,375/year is $6.43/hour at full time. It is $1,114.58/month - a really healthy rent or mortgage payment in most parts of the country.

And remember, the employer only pays a percentage of the total premium - the worker pays another percentage share, THEN deductible, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses which reset every year.

WHY are we paying insurance companies again?

These rates are going to continue to increase exponentially until people finally have enough and just stop buying insurance. At $13,375/year, a lot of people would have some left over every year. These rates are crazy.

Single payer is the true answer. There will always be people that fall outside of the safety net. However, at the current rate, 1/4 to 1/3 of the American population will fall outside of the safety net in 5 years. At that time, the damage will be irreversible.

At that time, the corporations will use healthcare insurance to lock in their employees with lifetime contract. Yes, that is what the above posters that LOVES the insurance and other corporations. Yes, they want back their tenant farming systems back.

hahaha, what a joke. Keep on dreaming, Right Wing WACKOS.

Skeptic: As an owner of business, I see the current issue becoming a major problem. Providing insurance for employees is a tax deductible. However, those insurance package are normally higher. You can write a check for the employees to buy their own, but those are not tax deductible for the businesses. The check for the employee would then count as a taxable benefit, and he/she will have to pay taxes, but then use the premium as a deduction on their own.

The problem is actually not in what I explained, but in the fact that the insurance premiums are increasing at irregular pace. The employee premium has more than doubled for my businesses in CA during the past 4.5 years. THERE IS NO INFLATION. The doctors are no making twice as much, the clerks are not getting twice the pay check... So where is the leak???

Trust me, no malpractice is large enough to account for more than 13%, and that figure has held steady for the past 8 years. So exactly where is the 100% increase coming from? So why are we paying??? Because, we fear death more than we fear taxes! Some how, the Right Wing believe they can cheat DEATH, by sleeping with the insurance companies (instead of fixing the problem). No, the HEALTH CARE industry is not a business, but a RACKET that distort money from people and businesses.

The ''three stooges'' Pelosi,Reid,Obama have sold out america to the insurance industry as they had planned all along! Public option was a ruse this entire bill was crafted by the insurance industry!! America is SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thturd, I agree with your points, and thanks for explaining that there is no way to do what I suggested in current tax code. I knew the other stuff, but was asking if 'gifting' was some sort of option for a business. Your answer is: no.

That infamous 39% increase in CA should have been the notice to Congress as to how ins. cos. were going to react to the new law, but the obvious was ignored - again.

Another article on MSN right now compares the 8-year insurance increase to 8-year inflation of medical costs: 97%:39% - proving your points above.

What I don't understand is, people seem to be OK with premium subsidies for those who can't afford their insurance premiums, but they aren't OK with single payer. It doesn't make sense. It's still government money in the first case, only that goes directly to the insurers. In the second case, it would go to providers directly. In both cases, it's still government-spent money. So the insurance companies are sucking us all dry and getting, basically, welfare, on top of that in our names.

The antistatism is about to backfire on all of us.

has anybody seen anything the government does that works

Including the Afgan and Iraq wars?

This is really not complicated people. Health Insurance companies are raising their premiums now because the new "Obamacare" soon to be in force in a few years, will give the federal government the power to HOLD DOWN and CONTROL premium increases. They are simply trying to protect their claim reserves.

This being the case, the Federal government can begin forcing private insurance companies OUT OF BUSINESS in about 7 to 9 years.

You see, Obama is getting what he wants.........total government control of healthcare.

"has anybody seen anything the government does that works"

Yes, Social Securities has yet to miss a check to receipient. Social Securities has not turned away anyone. Social Securities has not lost any of its investment....

JM041424: You seem to be on top of thing realizing that the Insurance Companies are doing a preemptive strike against the premium payers (consumers). Yet you blame the government? Why not blame the Insurance companies? You remind of the people on the Jerry Springer Show, instead of blaming the cheating spouse, the blindly faithfuls are fighting amongst themselves for the right to the cheating spouse!!! hahaha... what a joke.

joe mota...Here's one truth you need to explain...Last week, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield's CEO fired 200 employees and promptly gave himself a $9 million raise. Want to explain this kind of extortion? And just where do you think those 200 people are supposed to go if a Bully Boy with a runaway Hemi smacks into them and breaks a few of their limbs? You?

Or, if some young punk McMommy and McDaddy bought a brand new SUV to tool around in decides you are roadkill but doesn't do the job completely? You going to tend to the victim's injuries or is that the victim's fault too?

You wealth protectionists make me laugh. Whine, moan, whine, moan. But make sure your healthcare insurance is paid for by taxpayers who pay for yours and ours.

This is what happens when the government mandates that citizens buy insurance without limiting what companies can charge. The insurance companies were promised that in exchange for not fighting Obama's Health Care bill the government would force all adults to buy insurance, except those who get employer paid plans or are eligible for a government plan (medicare or medicaid). Insurance companies were promised that this would bring an additional 15 to 20 million young insureds, who had previously opted to not have insurance, into the ranks of the premium payers. Knowing that the government is forcing young healthy people to buy insurance they dont want or need frees the insurance companies to jack up rates...afterall no matter what they charge you have to pay it. At the same time doctors are refusing to take medicare and meidcaid patients at levels before not seen. Health Care Reform will have brought us healthy young people with expensive insurance they dont want or need and old and sick people with medicare they cant use. A great move in the wrong direction.

...forcing young healthy people to buy insurance they dont want or need...

Until they get sick, right? Then what? Get the medical care they need and then file bankruptcy to further drive up those hospital cost the insurance industry is wringing its hands about?

By the way, I wonder how much of the insurance companies' tens of billions of dollars in profits they're actually losing?

Nina, this is just a preview of what the government healthcare will bring. I read the other day that my medicare is due to go up twenty five percent in 2011, to 121 dollars a month for each of our medicare eligible retirees. Not to mention the destruction of the medicare advantage plans that my wife and I pay one hundred per month more per month. The healthcare plan ends those medicare advantage plans. I always heard if I think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until the government takes it over. We are paying four hundred a month now which is $4,800 a year and it is scheduled to go to $5,400 in 2011.

What this cant be true! They told us if they passed their Health care bill the cost of health care will go down. Nobody will ever go bankrupt because of health care costs. Hope and Change seems to mean poverty and Bankruptcy.

d burger:this has nothing to do with the health care package. This is strictly due to the greedy insurance companies. Health Care has not even kicked in yet, but good spin anyway.

That's a lie. This has everything to do with that horrific bill. All costs are being driven up due to government interference. We don't have free markets because of past government interference. This is only going to get worse.

What spin, verno? d burger clearly cites the passing of the bill, not the implementation, so s/he is correct. The bill passed; rates are going up. This is not what we were promised. When it comes time to shell out the dough, does it really matter whether the fault is with the greedy insurance companies or the lying politicians? It's both, actually.

d burger:this has nothing to do with the health care package. This is strictly due to the greedy insurance companies. Health Care has not even kicked in yet, but good spin anyway.

It has EVERYTHING to do with health insurance and managed care.

Every single medical procedure NOT COVERED by insurance has gone down in price EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

Almost ALL procedures covered by insurance go up nearly every year....

The insurance system IS the problem and Obamacare just expands the insurance system.

Do you use your car insurance to change your oil or change your tires? NO....

Health insurance should be the same thing... covering only major problems... Then the cost of visiting a doctor and routine care/tests would top DRAMATICALLY. Also, the cost of insurance would drop DRAMATICALLY as well.

you have no idea what your talking about if you don't have ins you pay more the ins company bargain with hospital and dr. I don't want obamacare but don't miss the facts no one should have to chose between there home eating and ins. vote the whole congress out every dang one of them they make sure we pay all there stuff like lunch hair cuts gyms parking on and on. they don't want this ins if it's good enought for us I say it is for them. Want to fix SS just take there fancy pay and make them have the same thing we do you would see how quick they quite robbing it then.

People it really is time to vote them out every dang one of them. they were all bought and paid for long ago.

For those in denial, the credit card companies did exactly the same thing. They upped their rates as much as they could before the legislation that would regulate them went into place. The insurace companies are doing exactly the same thing. This will grandfather in the rates.

Just watch all the loopholes get used in any legislation. These poorly crafted and written legislative documents (insurance reform, credit, credit cards, etc.) are a sham and a shame. (Our congress people should know better, and they probably do, and they don't give a damn.) And guess who gets stuck paying for them?

verno, Any insurance company that does not build up their claim reserves NOW will be out of business in the near future. It's ALL about government control !

If those damn rich boy Republicans had butted out, there wouldn't be an increase. Anytime a Republican like the Big Three...Boehner, Graham and McConnell go sticking their rich boy noses into healthcare, the costs end up somehow, some way dumped on the middle class and the poor.

Time for you folks to admit it. The only people in the US who can afford healthcare or good health are the ones earning 6 figures. Earn less and you'll be on line waiting for Republican botched healthcare.

I'm in the same boat. Blue shield has raised my premium by 20% in each of the last two years. I have ended up with a deductible of $3,600 in order to keep my premiums affordable and I have dropped dental coverage altogether. Basically, I have insured myself against a catastophic illness. Otherwise, I don't have health insurance.

I would understand the insurance companies sob story if it weren't the case that they were raking in outrageous profits. On top of that, I personally know a former executive out of healthcare insurance industry. He was bragging about the 10,000 sq foot room in one of his houses!!!!! One room in one of his houses is several times larger than all of the room in my one house. To have taken a salary that afforded that was utter greed.

well eventually it will be against the law for you to not have health insurance what do you say about that?

I have BCBS of NJ through my company for 13 years. This year my monthly premiums went up from $285 to $370, (which is a 29% increase). And it increases 10% to 30% every year and every year I have to cut some benefits so it is affordable ( no prescription, high deductible, etc).

In New Jersey, BCBS is NON-PROFIT. I don't understand then why it is so expensive if it is not for profit. I had an office in Florida so I price checked Florida BCBS (FOR PROFIT) is $50 a month cheaper premium than NJ BCBS, comparing apples to apples. Go figure.

its expensive because of law suits. law suits comprise almost 50% of all wasted health care dollars. thats a lot of money. and this is because of doctors ordering non essential tests to cover their butts. health care is skyrocketing so insurance has to go up to keep their heads above water. congress fooled the people into believing it was all the insurance compasnies faults. they refused to control costs with tort reform. all the dems wanted was control of insurance companies and your life.

Current law allows insurers to reject applicants with medical conditions on the individual market, a practice that will be barred under the new health reform law starting in 2014.

Premiums could be affected by other provisions in the law, such as one barring insurers from charging higher premiums based on a person’s health, a rule that begins in 2014.

It such a shame that it will be 2014 before the rules take place, but the Senate had to make sure that the INS. Co. had time to raise their prices as high as they would like. Just like letting the Credit Card companies have several months before the new rules would take affect. Guess what they both took advantage of the time given & raised their charges on everyone. The C/C companies & Insurance Co. know they can raise their rates because nothing will be done about it. ********************************************

In New Jersey, BCBS is NON-PROFIT. I don't understand then why it is so expensive if it is not for profit. I had an office in Florida so I price checked Florida BCBS (FOR PROFIT) is $50 a month cheaper premium than NJ BCBS, comparing apples to apples. Go figure.

NJ to Miami-834977 Most Insurance Companies are just out & out Crooks but I am dreading hearing the facts of the H/C Bill in 2014. I can only wander at the things that we are going to be surprised with, the Government has such a way of ruining everything they touch, it scares the daylight out of everyone I know, to think it is only 3 1/2 years until we find out what we are in for.

buffalo bob: Better check your figures again. Lawsuits raise the price of health care less than 1%. Better check you facts again.

buffalo bob,

its profit margins not lawsuits, quit reading from the cons quote machine!

Actually medical care was INEXPENSIVE and often FREE until the invention of MANAGED CARE and INSURANCE...

Think people... do you use your car insurance to buy tires or change your oil? NO.... Insurance for something you HAVE TO DO ANYWAYS is not REALLY insurance...

In New Jersey, BCBS is NON-PROFIT. I don't understand then why it is so expensive if it is not for profit. I had an office in Florida so I price checked Florida BCBS (FOR PROFIT) is $50 a month cheaper premium than NJ BCBS, comparing apples to apples. Go figure.

Easy. Non-profit means that they have to break even every year, not take in less money. So when Joe the CEO, all the other people in the C-suite, the Board etc...need raises, they build it in. Hence your premium increases.

They know what their salaries are in advance (lots them are on some kind of contract), so they budget accordingly. Those trips to Vegas, etc are usually planned out 12-18 months in advance, and they raise your current rates to pay the difference.

Been There...Write a letter to Mr. Got Rocks Blue Cross CEO demanding he give back that $9 million in salary increase he gave himself. These guys think they have a covenant with God to be healthy and wealthy while they extort money from small business and single payers.

I have enough trouble paying for my own healthcare, it should be against the law for any American citizen to pay for anyone else's healthcare or pension on top of their own. When someone pays for mine, I'll pay for theirs.

BS Family doc. I see the mansions the local doctors are building on the top of the hill

whowhat...You want to work those doctor's hours? You'll be on call 24 hours a day if you are a cardiologist, anethestist, GYN or other specialist. And, you'll work from 6 AM when you see your first hospitalized patient and then spend the next 8 hours with the number of patients the HMO determines is sufficient for payment. Which by the way, I checked this...my cardiologist gets a total of $17 for each HMO patient he sees. And the HMOs take months to pay the doctors. Yeesh the freakin teachers only work 6 hours and have free healthcare and 2 months off in the summer.

What has this got to do with Obamacare? Nothing. That's what. They were and have been raising thier prices for the last 10 years. Long before Obamacare was even thought of. But again. Good spin.

verno: "spin"

As Inigo Montoya would say: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

gave up...Did you think that those Bush inspired HSA's are a big help to anyone earning under $50,000 a year? Or, are you prepared to demand we all earn enough to pay for Civil Servants pensions and healthcare and our own? Well? Get to it. Demand we all earn 6 figures...because that's the only way to have healthcare insurance.

TexasProud...Duh...I'm an office manager in a very small company. When those respondents said they are paying $7,000 on average for family coverage, they are telling the truth. But, what you missed is that they are likely paying only half if their employer pays the other half.

Example: In my company, we pay 35% of our healthcare in copays for medical care, hospital and prescription. We don't get to see a doctor we choose...no freedom there. We can only see the doctors in the network the HMO chooses and if we exceed a certain number of visits, we're on our own to pay the overages the insurance companies don't pay.

My employer pays the other half of the coverage at another $7,000 per employee...So...Not $7,000 but $14,000 a year. Meanwhile, teachers in NJ cost every taxpayer $18,000 for their healthcare coverage on top of paying for our own.

Um, before you go on your rant you need to get your facts straight. Yes, Obamacare (if that's what you want to call it) was designed to address these sort of increases. That is exactly right. But it hasn't gone into effect yet. These raises are what are to be addressed - they're not the consequence of the legislation.

On top of that, the legislation that has been passed isn't even remotely close to the European medital plans (which most Europeans appear to strongly support). What we got was some tweaking to our existing system - we did not get socialized medicine. Stop listening to Fox.

PATRIOTSON, you seem to be a mouth piece for FOX garbage news. You have no facts or mind of your own, however you are entitled to your opinion, but not to the truth. Fox news is basically taylored to RETARDED people, who will jump off a cliff at a moments notice. Insurance companies, OBAMA, and health care industry are full of sh####T. The entire system is completely BROKEN. There is going to be a point where nobody buys any insurance when they cant affford premiums. Insurance companies and their rate increases will be stopped in their tracks. Democrats or republicans are not your friends . They all have a special AGENDA which suits their interests.

patriotson...The Obama Administration healthcare plan doesn't go into effect until 2012...Get a clue and stop with the "patriot who hates his president" routine.

Tom , you got a great point. Its all big sham. They dont realize that they have killed the golden goose yet. Capitalisam in on a verge of starting to consume itself.

Tom, the biggest problem is that capitalism and free enterprise have been REMOVED from the system. Health "insurance" is the biggest price fixing pyramid ponzi scheme ever with health insurer's, government and attorneys all having a vested interest in seeing that the status quo remains in place. You don't see these sort of issues with homeowners or auto insurance do you? Gee, wonder why that is?

akguy: Yes in fact I do see the same thing in homeowner insurance and car insurance. They are continually going up. Even if you have never made any claims.

Tom157...Look up the word "plutocracy" See if it fits the description of has happened to this country.

verno...NJ has the highest auto insurance premiums in the country. $1500 is the average for a single auto policy for one car with collison. Forget house insurance, NJ is rife with McMansions with 5 bathrooms and 3 cars to a family and as many Noo Yawkahs as can squeeze into a state they despise. You just try to file a claim and they will bury you in paperwork so you have no choice but to give up after a year.

I filed one lousy claim for $350 for a door that flew off the hinges of my house in a bad hurricane and the insurance company buried me in paperwork and inspections and finally excised itself from my claim by claiming "wind is an act of God." This after paying house insurance for 35 years to the tune of more than $400 a year.

Actually the House voted to impeach Clinton...the trial is held in the Senate where he was aquitted. The Supreme Court has no role in impeachment except that the Cheif Justice presides over the trial. It is required in the Constitution. Unless you mean the music group the Supremes but other than providing mood music for Bill and Monica I am not aware of any role they may have had in the impeachment proceedings.

No instead you would see your medicare taxes climb as much as premiums.

Jeffrey..Excuse me, but when you enlarge a pool of the insured, you also enlarge the pool of money paid into that pool. I don't know who is trying to fool who but Big Insurance has for decades now gotten away with mass extortion. Let's say an insurance pool has 100,000 people they insure at $7,000. Unless all 100,000 have an accident twice a year or all get some deadly disease all at the same time, there's a surplus of money for every insured who doesn't use his coverage in any given time frame. And what about those who die before they ever file a claim? Got it now?

What do you pay now and how does that compare to what we pay in private industry? I pay $400 a month in order to have a $3,600 deductible. I have no pre-existing conditions and have even made a single claim of any sort in 15 years.

WC" Why do you think your county is raising your premiums? That's because the insurance companies are raising their premiums. Something has to give somewhere.

WC77...If you work in private industry, you are paying for something county workers can pay for themselves. That's what THEIR paycheck is for...not YOURS.

bob4ford: This has nothing to do with Obamacare. Where do you come up with that crap? Been watching Fox again?

Thanks - I am definitely going to look into this!

This doesn't really help with regard to pre-existing. I applied with every insurance company licensed in Nevada and was declined by all of them (or told "don't bother applying"). Non-employer groups are not allowed to form groups and after several months of trying, I moved overseas. It was simple to get insurance here.

Now I have an individual plan that covers up to £5,000,000 (more than $7 million) with a £1,000 deductible and it costs me $290/mo for my wife and I together. The only catch is that it is not valid in the USA (everywhere else is ok though).

In New Jersey , medical insurance premium is half the price thru a business than as an individual. In NJ it is illegal for associations to pool together members and offer health insurance plans. In NJ you have to be a business, and in NJ even if your busienss does not make any profit you still have to pay the state a minumum of $600 a year in taxes.

In florida, it seems medical insurance through an employer or as an individual is the same price.

Alec,

Good advice if it applies to the state your in. I will have to check that out, and expand it to see if there are county coc or state chamber of commerce and the associated health care plan, if my rural area does not offer such things.

NJ - It's illegal in Nevada too to pool groups... any idea why? This makes no sense and seems to just be a profit-winner for the insurance companies. I read that unemployment in Nevada is now 14%, the highest in the US. I'd love to be spending my money in the economy there, but with a screwed up insurance system I can't justify moving back.

Justagirl, I agree about this having gone on for quite a while now and for some reason, a lot of people didn't want to pay attention until this whole HCR circus started up. My company doesn't provide health care insurance because it is too expensive (sound familiar?). Luckily I am covered under my wife's group plan from her employer. However, her premiums have increased 75% over the last 3 years, so this is nothing new, and has nothing to do with Obamacare, good or bad, and those who say so are just grinding their axe, as usual. It is the result of people in positions of power in the health care industry who know they have the general population under their thumbs, i.e., you want to live, well pay up, and their bought and paid for greedy bastards in Congress. Example, Joe "You lie" Wilson of SC, guess who his single largest campaign contributor is, the health care industry.

Spiller, which health care company do you or your wife work for?

justagirl - do you want me to answer spiller for you? Spiller the annual letter usually will state while we appreciate serving you, we have to raise your premium due to cost increase. Same old, story year after year. Of course, they will offer you different programs with different fee structures. Their motto should be, we are always happy to charge you more and deliver less. Our government should be in bed with insurance companies. Who wins, when it's mandated everyone has to have insurance? Could it be the insurance company? Now the doctor's have written and they said "no it is not us that are making the money." They said it must be the CEO's. I wonder what the unions and insurance companies really do? If the insurance companies have negotiated, it never has been on my behalf. What would the medical profession do if insurance didn't exist? Just once, I woud love to get a double digit raise, like the insurance companies charge.

justagirl...You might have something there. In my state of NJ, there are a lot of people who just cannot afford healthcare insurance. The average is $600 a month for a single person for a bare bones plan. I know this because I administer the plan at my office which isn't cheap.

The reality is that healthcare is going down the toilet and all it will take is one disastrously contagious disease spread by someone living on the streets to become airborn and millions of Americans will then have to deal with how to pay for the cost of medical treatment to abate it.

Do we take a chance with our kids for a bunch of greedheads whose main life entitlement is wealth?

I want the NJ Attorney General to investigate NJ BCBS and tell us why they charge such high premiums when they are a not-for-profit company. Is someone at NJ BCBS siphoning revenue to a Swiss bank account?

the insurance companies are a huge scam period

Yeah, will the government be making millions and millions of dollars off health care like the plutocrats currently do now?

quite the opposite....this is called bankruptcy....the us govt is already there now without adding this huge monstrosity....the 'health bill' is not even worth the paper it is printed on.

spiller...Get off it. Canada has had universal healthcare for decades as have many European nations. If you are trying to impress us that there are zero waiting times for care, drop into any emergency room in any US city hospitals with a broken arm and see how fast you won't get treated. Or, go into labor and see how fast you'll be told to just wait until your doctor gets there.

Worse is the extortion on the costs of care that is more than 25 years old. Explain exactly why a tonsilectomy in 2010 cost 20 times what it did in 1955? It's the same surgery, the same anethesia and the same specialist. So...what's different? Money hungry HMOs.

triman...Got a problem with government? Perhaps, you'll be free to express these anti-social thoughts better in North Korea or China? Who both by the way have universal healthcare if you want to call it that.

spiller...You opened the door, remember? This president was elected by a 52% majority and didn't need the neoconservative Supreme Court's help. You don't like this president because his sense of fair play isn't the gameboy attitude your ilk has that always translate to "might makes right" and we all know that the more money a right wing Republican has, the more power he has to influence the government. Too bad for you that you can't override the Constitutional right of majority rule.

MHVet...Did the government build that deepwater rig? Did the government avoid inspections and safety rules to increase profit? I'll bet anything those Texass yahoos are dancing a jig for the small price it cost them to pay off that good ole boy Judge in LA to minimize that spill by calling it "capricious".

You're wrong about that free lunch though...You gave Bush 8 years of free lunch we are now all paying for. By the way? Shouldn't that big oil man Bush and Herr Cheney be down in the Gulf about now playing "Mission Accomplished" and "My Way or the Highway"???????

NJ to Miami-834977 #21,

It's already in play. I don't remember how long ago (at least several years), one of the news shows (Sixty Minutes, not sure which one) showed where Thailand has built hospitals with all the amenities of the best luxury hotels, have some of the best doctors, and can (at least at the time that the show aired) provide this care (including roundtrip first class airfare between Thailand and the US), for less than what the procedure alone would cost in the US.

NJ to NJ...lol...Two friends of mine traveled to India for hip surgery. The total cost? $7,000. The reason they went to India was that both had HMO doctors in the US who were in their HMO network who were Asian Indians and those doctors told them that the cost for the same surgery in the US would be around $32,000. You bet they made airline reservations. One of them didn't have the $32,000 and had already waited more than 6 months in agony. You bet she had the surgery in India.

"Here's a very simple question: We all endure endless commercials for life insurance and car insurance which advertise value and price (Geico, Farmers, All State are in a free-for-all over price), but we never see advertisements for health insurance benefits or cost comparisons. Why?"

Bruce, the health insurance industry is exempt from federal antitrust laws. They don't have to compete and therefore have total freedom to rape consumers at will. America is the only modern industrialized nation on earth which allows for-profit companies to earn huge profits on the backs of sick and injured citizens.

Wilfred, you are correct! All other 1st world countries either use a single payer system to pay medical bills (like Medicare) or the health insurance companies are completely regulated so they have to accept anyone who applies, at the same insurance rate, covering a standard list of medical services, and be non-profit. They see medical practice as a "public good" in the same way as police and fire services.

I've read enough to know it's an abomination. Stimulus bill that wasn't a stimulus, health care reform bill that wasn't reform, bail out bills that weren't bail outs. Just because the poser in chief calls it something doesn't mean that's what it is.