The Record Cost of Health Care

Price of Healthcare Reaches All-Time High!

The cost of health care is going up and more and more people are unable to afford increasing insurance premiums, but there is hope. Obama’s health care plan under ObamaCare has started to curb the growth in health care costs with major reforms to the industry. If ObamaCare is not repealed health care costs will start to decrease for all Americans, greatly improving the quality of care in America provided through private insurance and programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Health care costs for a family of four covered by workplace health insurance will exceed $20,000 for the first time ever this year

…Actually $20,728! According to a study released on 5/15/12. This is $1,335 more than at the same time in 2011. Premiums have been rising, but this will end when ObamaCare curbs premium increases in 2014.

(ObamaCare Image is Public Domain)

With a preferred provider organization plan (one of the most common plans), a family of four will pay $5,114 in premiums along with $3,470 in out-of-pocket costs like co-payments for prescription drugs and doctor visits. The remainder of the expenses will be paid by employers, according to the report issued by Milliman, a firm that consults with companies on employee benefits.

Increases in health care costs, which the federal government says rose to $2.6 trillion in 2011, is certainly affecting employers, workers, families and government budgets every year.

“The rate of increase is not as high as in the past but total dollar increase was still a record,” the report says. “The dollar amount of the increase overshadows any relief consumers might derive from the slowing percentage increase.” The health care reform law enacted by President Barack Obama in 2010 “has had only a limited effect” on health care costs, the report continues.

Family health care costs grew by 6.9 percent between 2011 and 2012, slower than in previous years, but Milliman suggests there’s little comfort in that.

Spending on physician services will reach $6,647 and spending on hospital stays will rise to $6,531, making them the two biggest components of a typical family’s annual health care expenses, the report says.

Health care costs varied among the 14 metropolitan areas that Milliman analyzed. Miami and New York City are the most expensive, with costs about 20 percent higher than the national average. The report says that Phoenix, Atlanta and Seattle were the only three cities where annual costs are projected to be less than $20,000 this year.

The Price of Healthcare is Rising