Florida paper warns of rising health insurance costs

If you’re watching any of the presidential debates this year � and even if you’re not � you probably know that health care insurance is one of the hot issues of this campaign season, and with god reason: according to an Associated Press story running in the Florida Times Union, the cost of such insurance will increase by almost 20% over the next two years.

AP’s information is based on a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, which explains that the increases will be largely due to “cost shifting,” which means that private insurance companies will be billed more to help offset inadequate compensation from the uninsured and from Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Solutions suggested to help reduce costs for those who are insured include:

• Access to more plan options, and fewer state mandates on those plans
• Better ability to tailor coverage for individual needs
• Better incentives and the ability to “shop around” for medical services.
• Ability to have only the coverage you need, and not what someone else thinks you should have.

According to the Times Union story, we face a climate where the health insurance industry has the same impact on the American economy as the automobile industry once did. As well, the article points out, as a country we cannot afford “double-digit health care inflation.”

The Times Union report continues with the warning that experts have admitted there is waste within the system that must be eliminated, and predicts health care costs as the next crisis America will face.