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As you may be aware, many people are wondering what health care 2012 will mean for people that depend on an employer for insurance. Unfortunately, most all of the news can be summed up as “less value for more money”. Here are just a few of the most visible changes to health care in 2012.
Depending on the composition of your household, these changes may cost anywhere from just a few hundred to several thousand dollars more per year in increased premiums.
Increased Emphasis on Workplace Wellness in Health Care 2012
If there is one good thing that may come of rises in health care premiums, it has to do with employers becoming more concerned about the health of each person working for them. Among other things, you may find that employers will now:
- Increase education about smoking cessation in workplace seminars
- Increased attention to obesity and which doctors you choose to go to
- May institute exercise routines or pay for gym fees
- Will look for other ways to help employees improve their lifestyle choices.
While these may seem like positive ways to reduce costs, many people already feel that health care for 2012 is forcing changes on them that they do not want to make. Aside from dubbing Obama as the “kitchen police”, you are sure to find that an adversarial relationship may develop between employers and employees as each party seeks to adjust to health insurance 2012.
Increased Percentage Assigned to Employees
Regardless of whether or not you have dependents, employers are already struggling to pay health insurance premiums on top of sky high taxes and paying all the bills associated with managing the burdens of government oversight into various operations. Under these circumstances, employers may charge as much as 70 percent more for each dependent, as well as higher premiums for the primary insured. Since the premiums may easily double and triple, you are likely to find that any offsets in income tax breaks will be negligible at best.
Pricewaterhouse surveyed 1,700 employers from 30 industries along with hospital executives and health-plan actuaries. It found that three main factors will drive up medical costs next year.
First, consolidation among hospitals and physicians is snowballing. While that should increase efficiency, payers worry about the impact of consolidation on rates. Second, inpatient costs for Medicare recipients (not including those on medicare supplemental plans) will rise 3.3 percentage points more than hospital rates. And post-recession stress has taken a toll on worker health.
But the study says that employers are expected to try to keep a lid on costs between now and next year, and the actual medical inflation rate for employers should be closer to 7%. See more at MarketWatch.
Reduction in Benefit Types with Insurance 2012
Individuals that are newly hired by a company can expect far fewer benefits than they would have had before. For example, when it comes to health care 2012, the vast majority of new hires will not have the option to keep their insurance coverage after they retire. While this may not mean much to the younger generation, it certainly has an affect on baby boomers and others that lost their jobs and are just starting over again. You are also likely to find that employers will move to plans with higher deductibles and co-pays in order to find some way to reduce their monthly premium. Some of the benefits of Health care reform is explained at WhiteHouse.gov.
Before reform, cancer patients and individuals suffering from other serious and chronic diseases were often forced to limit or go without treatment because of an insurer’s lifetime limit on their coverage. Insurance companies can no longer put a lifetime limit on the amount of coverage enrollees receive, so families can live with the security of knowing that their coverage will be there when they need it most.
While many of the changes should come as no surprise to the vast majority of people, you can rest assured that health care 2012 is going to play a crucial role in the elections, as well as the future of our country. No doubt, after 11 months of reduced benefits and less money in their paychecks, people can and will vote their conscience in order to make sure that health care 2012 does not set the stage for the years ahead.
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