Don’t worry, be happy with your health plan!

The Likes have it

Joe Biden said in a recent debate, “one hundred sixty million people like their private insurance.” I agree with Biden’s assessment that it’s foolish to advocate scrapping insurance companies as his rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want. It’s stupid politically to take such an extreme view and it’s also worth noting that other countries with nationalized health insurance (like the UK and Germany) have private insurers, too.

Still, what does it mean to say people like their private health insurance? I suppose I would be counted in that number. And, by and large I would say I do “like” my insurance, which is with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. They cover the doctors and hospitals I want to use and the drugs my family takes. Their customer service is good. Their website is ok. They’re flexible in their approach to enforcing policies.

The problem is the cost, which soared to about $2800 per month for family coverage, even for a high-deductible plan. At a colleague’s suggestion, I switched to an even higher deductible plan –which is also one where you have to pay for your own prescription drugs within that deductible instead of the first-dollar coverage I had previously. So while the premium dropped by several hundred dollars a month, I ended up with a co-pay on a generic drug of over $1000 –which would have been $100 before.

And did I mention that since it’s an HMO I needed to buy separate insurance for a dependent who’s at school out of state? And that the out-of-state insurance doesn’t cover expenses arising from participation in college sports? So I had to buy a third policy.

I don’t really blame my health insurer for the high and rising premiums. The main driver is the price of healthcare procedures, which continue to go up. I’ve been healthy, but still routinely see bills for my care in the thousands of dollars that would cost hundreds at most in other places. Some of that cost is attributable to the paperwork burdens imposed by the plans.

Warren and Sanders have a point about problems with health insurers and the lack of universal coverage. But in my view, the real way to address problems in the US healthcare system is to build on Obamacare, focusing not just on coverage (which Obamacare provides, especially if Medicaid expansion is fully implemented), but also on the cost, efficiency, and appropriateness of the care provided.

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By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.

 

 

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* This article was originally published here