With my 1-year anniversary as a Medicare recipient approaching, I got a letter from the health insurer that runs the Medicare supplement plan I use, informing me that my monthly premium will be going up by 28% next year. Twenty-eight percent! And not just for me; that will be the cost for everyone on this plan, which is typical for the industry.
I shopped around, but was able to find only a couple of slightly less-expensive plans. That hike will be in addition to the pending monthly increase for what all Medicare Part B recipients will have to pay.
It got me thinking about how brutal it is out there in the health-care and health-insurance realm.
Large employers are raising employees' share of insurance costs while reducing benefits and increasing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. According to Marsh's annual survey of employer-sponsored health plans, total cost per employee will rise by 8.2% on average in 2027, the highest increase since 2003. Small businesses have been dropping coverage altogether for years.
Self-employed people and early retirees got a major hit this year when enhanced ACA subsidies ended. As a result, millions upon millions dropped insurance completely.
America is the only developed nation that doesn't regard decent health care as a basic human right, so the situation figures to only get worse as U.S. society ages.
I feel very fortunate that my wife and I are in a place financially that we'll be OK, and I think the same is true for our adult kids and their families. But it's sad thinking about those who are being crushed by these costs - and by the no-win health-care choices they face.
Quote from: MU82 on September 04, 2026, 01:27:28 PMWith my 1-year anniversary as a Medicare recipient approaching, I got a letter from the health insurer that runs the Medicare supplement plan I use, informing me that my monthly premium will be going up by 28% next year. Twenty-eight percent! And not just for me; that will be the cost for everyone on this plan, which is typical for the industry.
I shopped around, but was able to find only a couple of slightly less-expensive plans. That hike will be in addition to the pending monthly increase for what all Medicare Part B recipients will have to pay.
It got me thinking about how brutal it is out there in the health-care and health-insurance realm.
Large employers are raising employees' share of insurance costs while reducing benefits and increasing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. According to Marsh's annual survey of employer-sponsored health plans, total cost per employee will rise by 8.2% on average in 2027, the highest increase since 2003. Small businesses have been dropping coverage altogether for years.
Self-employed people and early retirees got a major hit this year when enhanced ACA subsidies ended. As a result, millions upon millions dropped insurance completely.
America is the only developed nation that doesn't regard decent health care as a basic human right, so the situation figures to only get worse as U.S. society ages.
I feel very fortunate that my wife and I are in a place financially that we'll be OK, and I think the same is true for our adult kids and their families. But it's sad thinking about those who are being crushed by these costs - and by the no-win health-care choices they face.
Stay on the job longer
In 2025, total United States healthcare spending reached $5.7 trillion, which accounts for 18.4% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this amounts to roughly $16,500 per person
We spend trillions of dollars to cover 92% of Americans with poorer outcomes that most comparable OECD nations.
Meanwhile, Health insurance companies decline paid for benefits, deny coverage, and increase prices every single year. All while making $54B in profits last year (not to mention the 1.7T in revenue).
We spend more, and get less... all while companies enrich themselves.
This country needs medicare for all at a bare minimum.
Quote from: Hards Alumni on September 04, 2026, 01:39:07 PMIn 2025, total United States healthcare spending reached $5.7 trillion, which accounts for 18.4% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this amounts to roughly $16,500 per person
We spend trillions of dollars to cover 92% of Americans with poorer outcomes that most comparable OECD nations.
Meanwhile, Health insurance companies decline paid for benefits, deny coverage, and increase prices every single year. All while making $54B in profits last year (not to mention the 1.7T in revenue).
We spend more, and get less... all while companies enrich themselves.
This country needs medicare for all at a bare minimum.
Ok, Pol Pot
Christians love taking health insurance away from people who need it.
Quote from: Jockey on September 04, 2026, 03:21:35 PMChristians love taking health insurance away from people who need it.
What was the deductible for jesus to heal?
Quote from: jesmu84 on September 04, 2026, 05:22:43 PMWhat was the deductible for jesus to heal?
Last I checked, Jesus didn't need health insurance.
Check mate, libtards
Quote from: Hards Alumni on September 04, 2026, 01:39:07 PMIn 2025, total United States healthcare spending reached $5.7 trillion, which accounts for 18.4% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this amounts to roughly $16,500 per person
We spend trillions of dollars to cover 92% of Americans with poorer outcomes that most comparable OECD nations.
Meanwhile, Health insurance companies decline paid for benefits, deny coverage, and increase prices every single year. All while making $54B in profits last year (not to mention the 1.7T in revenue).
We spend more, and get less... all while companies enrich themselves.
This country needs medicare for all at a bare minimum.
Yup yup yup.
We as a country have farmed out medications and insurance to huge, publicly traded corporations whose first responsibility is to their shareholders. Meanwhile, massive hospital systems have usurped (Muggsy's favorite word, but actually used correctly) doctors' practices and small clinics. Most are "non-profit," but they sure don't feel that way to patients.
It's a mess, filled with bureaucracy, inconsistency, incompetence and fraud. All the while, Americans suffer.
We should be able to do better, but it's hard to believe we ever will.
Bishop's patoral letter: Social Justice for All (1986) advocated for a single payer system from a moral and social teaching perspective. Studied it for 1/2 a semester.
Then, the American church pulled support for Hillary-care, as it included contraception.
The arguments for universal health care goes back to FDR. He probably had the best chance of implementing it, if he had included it in his depression-era reforms. Missed opportunity.
I have wanted universal health care since taking the theology class in the 80's. I spent a lot of years listening to patients say they couldn't afford a trip to the ER, despite their bullet hole or obviously broken bone.
A case can and should be made for it from an economic competitiveness perspective. All that money being wasted on sub optimal outcomes and bureaucracy for profit. While imperfect systems in every other industrial nation in the world keep their citizenry from having to choose between medicines/medical bills and food.
I won't believe it until it happens, but the pendulum swing away from this dys-Trump-ian crap storm could be enough to get a plan through.
Quote from: tower912 on September 04, 2026, 06:52:48 PMBishop's patoral letter: Social Justice for All (1986) advocated for a single payer system from a moral and social teaching perspective. Studied it for 1/2 a semester.
Then, the American church pulled support for Hillary-care, as it included contraception.
The arguments for universal health care goes back to FDR. He probably had the best chance of implementing it, if he had included it in his depression-era reforms. Missed opportunity.
I have wanted universal health care since taking the theology class in the 80's. I spent a lot of years listening to patients say they couldn't afford a trip to the ER, despite their bullet hole or obviously broken bone.
A case can and should be made for it from an economic competitiveness perspective. All that money being wasted on sub optimal outcomes and bureaucracy for profit. While imperfect systems in every other industrial nation in the world keep their citizenry from having to choose between medicines/medical bills and food.
I won't believe it until it happens, but the pendulum swing away from this dys-Trump-ian crap storm could be enough to get a plan through.
Tree hugger mumbo jumbo.
Quote from: tower912 on September 04, 2026, 06:52:48 PMBishop's patoral letter: Social Justice for All (1986) advocated for a single payer system from a moral and social teaching perspective. Studied it for 1/2 a semester.
Then, the American church pulled support for Hillary-care, as it included contraception.
The arguments for universal health care goes back to FDR. He probably had the best chance of implementing it, if he had included it in his depression-era reforms. Missed opportunity.
I have wanted universal health care since taking the theology class in the 80's. I spent a lot of years listening to patients say they couldn't afford a trip to the ER, despite their bullet hole or obviously broken bone.
A case can and should be made for it from an economic competitiveness perspective. All that money being wasted on sub optimal outcomes and bureaucracy for profit. While imperfect systems in every other industrial nation in the world keep their citizenry from having to choose between medicines/medical bills and food.
I won't believe it until it happens, but the pendulum swing away from this dys-Trump-ian crap storm could be enough to get a plan through.
I love the optimism Tower!
One of many reasons why I'm retiring in Spain.
About $2000 a year for complete health insurance.
Y vino tinto y jamon.
Quote from: tower912 on September 04, 2026, 06:52:48 PMBishop's patoral letter: Social Justice for All (1986) advocated for a single payer system from a moral and social teaching perspective. Studied it for 1/2 a semester.
Then, the American church pulled support for Hillary-care, as it included contraception.
The arguments for universal health care goes back to FDR. He probably had the best chance of implementing it, if he had included it in his depression-era reforms. Missed opportunity.
I have wanted universal health care since taking the theology class in the 80's. I spent a lot of years listening to patients say they couldn't afford a trip to the ER, despite their bullet hole or obviously broken bone.
A case can and should be made for it from an economic competitiveness perspective. All that money being wasted on sub optimal outcomes and bureaucracy for profit. While imperfect systems in every other industrial nation in the world keep their citizenry from having to choose between medicines/medical bills and food.
I won't believe it until it happens, but the pendulum swing away from this dys-Trump-ian crap storm could be enough to get a plan through.
That's it. That's the only reason we're in this situation
If one were putting together a health care system, one would never put together the one we have. It's unconscionable.