Affordable health care? [The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
By Alex Nixon, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"It's been a challenge," Hartford said of keeping up with rising premiums. "We've gone to a high-deductible plan just to try and balance it, and that's actually helped."
But he's concerned about what full implementation of
"Based on what we've been hearing, Obamacare should be more expensive," he said.
It's a concern shared by
The Downtown-based nonprofit insurer expects the Affordable Care Act to trigger several across-the-board cost increases through a range of new fees and taxes on health plans and other parts of the health care system, said
"Our review and assessment of the regulations, at least to this point, would suggest there's a lot of additional cost that will be seen," Rice told the Tribune-Review last week.
Those new costs, such as a 3.5 percent fee on premiums for individuals buying coverage through new marketplaces called exchanges, are on top of reimbursement increases that the insurer has negotiated with
Adding new benefits required by the Affordable Care Act, such as not denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, will make it easier for the uninsured to gain coverage, but may add about 3 percent higher cost to premiums for individual plans in
Those new costs also are on top of the ever-increasing cost of medical services. Rice said. But some of that extra cost could be eliminated and lead to substantial savings.
An estimated 30 percent of health care spending is duplicative testing, hospital readmissions, hospital-acquired infections and other unneeded or preventable procedures, Rice said.
"All those things add up to wasted costs," she said.
All insurance companies,
"All the carriers are trying to focus on improving health and that will lead to more savings and more stable rates in the long term," Shilling said.
Over the past several years, health costs for the company's 580 employees plus family members have increased an average 3 percent to 4 percent a year, or about half the national average, Gore said.
"We've really pushed our wellness program, and I think it has an impact," he said.
The company spends about
A new fee included in the Affordable Care Act of
"That's a decent cost for us," he said.
Over the last year, rate increases by
"Insurers around the country are trying to raise rates" ahead of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, said
Because the law triggers greater scrutiny on rate increases of 10 percent or higher, she said, "we've seen a lot of rates come in at 9.9 percent, which is significantly lower than what was happening before."
"I can honestly say I haven't seen big swings in the rates," Klavon said. "Some big (increases) here and there ... but we're not seeing the increases like in prior years."
Part of that moderation is linked to increased competition among insurers in the region.
At the same time,
Rice said that spending is not leading the insurer to charge more for health insurance. A competitor to UPMC will have lower costs, she said.
"What we're building is intended to bring costs down in the future," she said. "Without this strategy, costs will continue to escalate to the point where employers won't be able to provide coverage."
But spending on West Penn Allegheny and other components of the new system is expected to decrease
Rice said
"I would say that I believe we are in a very healthy place," she said. "I think we'll sustain the level of financial stability we've had for years."
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