Health Insurance
Why Is Health Insurance So High
The major reasons why health care insurance is such a bug expense today is that medical procedures cost a lot and are probably over used. Physicians now routinely perform many ultra-expensive medical procedures that didn't even exist ten years ago. Our unhealthy lifestyles also play a role. We need medical intervention more due to our lifestyles.
One way to shrink our costs for healthcare insurance would be to reduce the number of bypass operations and other heart surgeries that are performed. In the good old days of cheap health insurance, these medical interventions were performed much less frequently.
Of course lowering the number of operations without reducing the need for those procedures would simply result in lives being shortened. The unwanted side effect of lowering expenses is often lowering effectiveness.
A tremendous percentage of medical expenses are generated in the last years or even months of life. In an attempt to extend life we often will spare no expense.
From a purely financial standpoint, extending the income-producing life of a forty year old helps our country more than extending the life of an eighty year old. Chances are the forty year old is working and paying taxes. If they were to die she or he would stop paying income taxes. If she or he were to become disabled they would not only stop paying taxes, but might also start receiving money from the government in the form of Social Security benefits. Extending the life of an eighty year-old who is no longer paying earning contributing to our GDP or taxes and who is currently getting Social Security benefits has the reverse effect.
Money isn't everything but, we should at least be conscious of the fact that helping currently tax-paying workers continue to be tax-paying workers puts more money in our pockets that we can use for other things. Those other things can include extending the life of our older citizens.
Unless you are a legislator, there is probably not a lot that you can do to change what medical insurance costs for everyone else. However, there may be a lot you can do to keep premiums and other costs down for yourself and your family.
Do what you can to stay fit. Being active and eating nutritious foods in the right quantities will do several things for your health-related expenses.
If you are more healthy you will tap into your medical insurance less. This means that you will have less coinsurance and other out-of-pocket expenses to pay. You will qualify for lower prices if you need to purchase private or individual hospital and doctor insurance.
Shop around for insurance. Look at not only different health insurance carriers, but different places to get insurance from. If you are eligible for COBRA, for example don't just look at COBRA. Consider private health insurance also.
Hospital and Doctor insurance is expensive for several reasons. Many of the reasons that it is so costly are beyond our control. However, we can take the time to research the hospital and doctor insurance options available to us and do what we can to stay well and thereby reduce costs for ourselves and our families.
