We’ve all heard the stories of people using Groupon and GoFundMe to help pay for medical care. But about a decade before these companies existed, Human Resources departments worried about the financial strain annual health insurance increases and out-of-pocket medical care costs placed on low-paid workers, in particular. How do you pay for food, rent, and transportation when, in 1999, the average health insurance premium for a single person was $183 per month, and the family premium was $483?

Fast forward to 2019, and the average single and family monthly health insurance premiums (for a PPO plan) are $567 and $1,584, respectively.

Every year, purchasing life’s necessities gets exponentially harder as health care costs eat away at wage increases and savings. Even if you have enough money to cover your basic needs, paying $600 to $1,600 (or half of that if getting an employer and government tax subsidy), makes buying a car or a house, or starting a new business, impossible for millions of people. Other rich countries, and poor countries, too, realize this and have rejected overpriced health care. American employers, on the other hand, accept health insurance and health care increases as common practice.

Make Health Care Affordable For Employees, Not Just Employers

Employers are concerned, and even angry, about the never-ending annual health plan increases their insurers insists they need. They just aren't willing to take a really tough stand on the issue. And what would taking a tough stand on health insurance costs look like for employers? Employers should place price caps on insurance premiums and copays (we really need to eliminate deductible and coinsurance amounts).

When health insurers, hospitals, doctors, and drug makers realize that their biggest cash cow, employers, is no longer willing to pay what's billed, prices will come down. Medicare already says what it’s willing to pay and, to be fair; some employers are experimenting with variations of price caps e.g., (reference-based pricing). But small fry health insurance and health care price capping doesn't trickle down to the employee level, at least not enough to make health care and life’s other wants and needs affordable. Capping health insurance costs might also lead to greater health care price transparency. Do you want more money? Show us why you need it. We know you want it, but do you need it, and how much more? Continue Reading...

Tags: health care , health insurance , price caps