Premiums will continue to rise. As long as we have an aging population, who stay alive longer, but aren't as healthy as they could be. Someone's got to pay for all those years/decades of diabetes and heart ailments. I hope there is some relief for premiums, but I don't see how it can happen. It's like any other budget. More money out doesn't bode well for lower premiums.

Yes I think a lot of it is corporate greed. Seems like someone should be able to rein them in. It just seems like no one even talks about the costs - it's just a given that things continue to go up and no one (politicians) seem to care.

Our political "leaders" (though I don't see a lot of leading going on lately) have their own health care system! How nice for them.....

Yes, why don't "they", the politicians, have to have the same options as us. Or better yet, why can't we all have the coverage they have?

That too Bob, that too. It's a sad state our healthcare is in.

ritamay perhaps you should look to see what Congress, making an assumption since there are politicians from local to national, actually has as health insurance. They have not had the options now that the regular federal employees have since 2014.

I should be able to buy an Obamacare health insurance policy for what I pay when working for a medium sized corporation. IS that too much to ask!?!

We can only hope this new package, with Warren Buffet involved, is better....

Conspiracy theories from both sides of the political spectrum are equally unhelpful and invalid.

My view is that we need change. I'm open to many/any but I think broader participation, even universal coverage, so that providers have more paying business and don't need to recover the costs of treating uncovered individuals, would be one approach. And reform of reimbursement rates (more for primary care and prevention, less for procedures) would also be helpful.

Agree with rob333. I can not see it coming down with people living longer and needing so much more medical and physical care. Our society has gotten into an obesity, non-physical patten and that increases diabetes, and researchers say it contributes to cancer and Alzheimer's, which costs are extremely expensive. My DB had cancer and each injection was $40,000! So if anyone should be at fault maybe the drug companies should be accountable.

Also the doctors are so afraid of malpractice that they are ordering so many tests, MRIs etc. that are likely unnecessary but we are willing to do them because we want the best for "our own" health.

Have you ever seen a "poor" doctor? I recently had a 10 minute OV, told to come back in 3 months, and was billed $375 and he never got his hand off of the door knob....3 months later it was the same story ... I never went back! I have a niece who is drug salesperson and doctors get a huge kick back and trips for pushing scripts for a new drugs.

I do not put all the blame on insurance companies ... they have to pay what they are billed for.....the blame is a chain reaction starting with us doing what we can to take better care of ourselves!

"Also the doctors are so afraid of malpractice that they are ordering so many tests"

The majority of states have passed limits on malpractice awards and so the financial risk is significantly reduced from what it used to be. In such states, fear of malpractice by health care providers is pretty much gone. Malpractice insurance, as a result, is considerably less expensive for providers to purchase.

Tests are ordered in each situation if doing so may be helpful and is considered proper professional practice under the circumstances. They're trying to help their patients, it's not a CYA sentiment.

But to your other comment, yes, there are a lot of poor docs. Good ones can be hard to find, especially in small towns and rural areas, where there is less demand and so less choice.

I don't know what the answer is, but staying the course doesn't seem like a recipe for optimal health success. So yeah, change. It will be interesting to see Amazon, Berkshire, and JP Morgan develop and field their approach. Is there a cute name for it yet? Is the health industrial complex shaking in their boots?

The biggest change in health care will come when people take full responsibility for their health. Eating and drinking is out of control, and sedentary entertainment seems to be more popular than participating in physical activity.

Too many people rely on a pill to lower their cholesterol and blood pressure all the while eating and drinking anything and everything that keeps pushing them up the scales.

I wouldn't say my doctor is rich. He's at the office every day, doing
physical exams and prescribing prevention, diet and exercise to keep
healthy. He's not a surgeon or a specialist. He assesses my health with
routing exams and blood work. He probably makes $170K a year. His wife
is highly paid, she's a cardiovascular surgeon.Neither one makes as much as the OSU football coach who is paid over $6 million a year.

There may be more cardiovascular surgeons in my one state alone than are there big program D-1 football coaches (like at OSU) in the entire US. It's a silly comparison to suggest.

It's not silly, you interpreted incorrectly, We'll leave it at that. I don't resent doctors receiving generous compensation.

And having more cardiovascular surgeons is nothing to brag about. It represents a problem in your state.

An article in the local free newspaper this week in Charlottesville, starts by noting the we have "the dubious distinction of having the most expensive health insurance premiums in the country." The article is about a local group who've retained a lawyer to help challenge those rates in Virginia's Bureau of Insurance. The company claims the higher rates are justified because the two local hospital charge higher rates. But one of those hospitals is owned and operated by the same parent company as the insurance company.

"It represents a problem in your state."

No, brushworks, it represents living in a state with 4X the population of Ohio. I first typed "more such docs in your state of Ohio than such coaches" but then thought - No, Ohio is a small state, make sure to not have an exaggeration. So I switched it to California. You want me to say "More plaintiff personal injury ambulance chasing lawyers in Ohio than major program D-1 coaches in the US", I can say that. Do you find that to be a problem with your state?

My objective was to extend your illogical comparison with another one. You misunderstood.

One of the problems with rising costs is that private practices are slowly getting eaten up by the hospitals. They have revenue and patient visit requirements that have to be met. If a doctor spends too much time with patients or the clinic under performs over all, his contract isn’t renewed or the clinic is closed. Also because the doctors work for the hospitals, their salaries are no longer as high as they would be if they were private. I definitly see trends in some of the hospital owned clinics that point towards excessive visits, labs and testing.