A week ago, I was going through my files to find a form I needed in order to fax a prescription over to an online pharmacy when I stumbled upon a stack of monthly health insurance bills starting in May 2001 when I first obtained an Individual HMO plan with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. I became self-employed at about that time.
Before I go further, it is important for me to state that I am a healthy individual. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink, except for maybe a glass of wine about once a week. I live a healthy lifestyle, I am physically active and I don’t consume sweetened beverages and I avoid foods that are loaded with sugar. Apart from the seasonal allergies I get in Spring, I am hardly ever sick (my health records will attest to that) and the only times I have ever been hospitalized was once when I broke an arm back when I was a young 7 year old and a second time when I had my appendix taken out when I was still in my teens. I probably see my Primary Care physician once a year when I have an annual physical check-up to be sure I’m doing OK and nothing is out of the ordinary.
That first month back in May 2001, my premium was $337.65 which worked out to be $4,051.80 per year. I flipped over the stack of bills to August 2006 – the last month for which I remained on that plan - and the premium for that same coverage had gone up to $616.82 or an annualized $7,401.84, a whopping 183% of what I was paying back in May 2001.
Out of curiosity, I went online to get a quote for the same plan today and the premium has shot up to $1,549.30 a month or $18,591.60 annualized. That works out to 251% of what I paid back in 2006 (less than 4 years ago) or 459% of what I paid back in 2001.
If the premiums keep increasing at that pace, the monthly premium for an Individual HMO plan would cost about $7,800 in another 10 years time when I will qualify Medicare. I know I can’t afford that in-between period – I don’t think any self-employed or unemployed individual can.
As unemployment soared and as the duration of people staying unemployed increased with the latest recession, it has become abundantly clear that an employment-linked health insurance is not the solution. COBRA has its limitations and is more costly for the individual as the former employer no longer picks up any part of the premium.
Even if one is fortunate enough to remain employed or is able to get a new job thanks to the job stimulus bill that was recently passed, rising health insurance premiums would force employers to shift more of the burden of healthcare plans over to their employees.
The claim that “we have the best healthcare system in the world” is misleading – it confuses availability with affordability.
We need healthcare reform AND MORE. We need a “medical tort reform”, defining what is the standard of care that should be expected so that doctors are not over-prescribing tests and treatments that serve only to enrich the pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment companies. We need a “prescription drug reform”, making medications more affordable – there should be no reason why Americans pay more for the same drugs than in other countries. We need reforms that encourage healthy lifestyles and more physical activity for both the young and the old.
We need to continue the debate about what healthcare should or should not be but not let it hold us back from enacting what should be the first of all the necessary reforms. As we gain experience from the present reforms, we need to refine those provisions that prove to be less than satisfactory. Nothing will be perfect from the get-go and we need to be mature enough to keep working at it and make it better.
