Health Care Premiums SOAR!

Health Care reform at what COST?

FACT! Costs have gone up. Premiums of business will see a 10-15-20% or more rise due to increased use of  health care and expectations of future costs down the road due to the reform. Employee's will see higher payroll deductions as well.

Remember the major reform passed by Obamacare wont go into effect till 2014, so why are we seeing these increases now?

From the IRS: Starting in tax year 2011, the Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the value of the health insurance coverage they provide employees on each employee's annual Form W-2. It will be optional in 2011 but mandated in 2012!

This reporting is for informational purposes only, to show employees the value of their health care benefits so they can be more informed consumers. The amount reported does not affect tax liability, as the value of the employer contribution to health coverage continues to be excludible from an employee's income, and it is not taxable.

But for how long will that last. Can a tax on our health care coverage provided by our employer be deemed down the road as part of our salary and taxed?


A Washington Post Article, Workers' health insurance costs for 2011, will include higher premiums and co-payments. According to experts and industry insiders, recent trends suggest rates will continue to rise and employers will continue to shift more of the cost of health insurance onto workers - asking them to shoulder a larger share of premiums, for instance, or increasing out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-pays.


Because this is the first new preimums period since key provisions of the new health-care law started taking effect, many workers will wonder how much of the plan changes they see is due to the legislation. Not much, say analysts. The law's most market-altering changes - including provisions that may or may not control premiums - don't kick in until 2014. So why are rates going up?

According to AARP Seventy-two employers with 3.7 million people on their payrolls expect the overall cost of providing health insurance to rise by an average 9 percent in 2011, according to the National Business Group on Health, an association of large employers.To cope with higher costs, 63 percent of the employers say they plan to raise the employee share of premiums, 46 percent will hike out-of-pocket maximums and 44 percent will increase in-network deductibles.

Listen with that said, I beleive every American should have Health Insurance. But we have to fix Obamacare, not repeal it. If we don't move in now to stem the tide, the costs for all of us will continue to rise out of control. Health care companies will use every last trick and unless put in check we will continue to see our premiums,out-of-pocket expenses, payroll deductions and co-payments continue to soar! This, I'm afraid is just the tip of the iceberg if we don't presure our elected officials to fix Obamacare!

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