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!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?   UBTALKBACK

iPhone coming to Verizon vs AT&T

By now I'm sure you've heard that Verizon is getting the iphone in VERY early 2011. Some reports I've seen says by mid January but before Valentines Day. Whatever the date, IT'S COMING.

For me, a verizon customer, my contract has run out so I'm sitting back and waiting too see who calls with the best offer. I've been using my old four year old chocalate LG, ugh, biding my time to see how this all unfolds.

Here's what I have found out for you:

Apple wants this just as much as Verizon. Adding another network for the iphone, Verizon the largest U.S. mobile-phone company

, can only help Apple gain more market share of the smart phone base. Reports say AT&T did ask for a gag on the announcement until after Christmas, hopefully trying to maxamize it's sales for the holiday season.

The news comes on the heels of the December 6 Consumer Reports survey of 58,000 readers who ranked current iPhone exclusive carrier AT&T as “the worst wireless carrier for customer satisfaction — and by an even wider margin than its similarly dismal fish in 2009.” Apple is tired of hearing about AT&T drawbacks, not all consider them bad though, but adding a choice helps Apple sell more phones.

The release of the iphone on Verizon will undoubtaly hurt AT&T. John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS Securities, “predicts that AT&T will sell 8.8 million iPhones in 2011, down from 15.6 million in 2010. Of the 13.3 million Hodulik expects Verizon to sell in 2011, about 2.3 million will be to AT&T refugees, he predicts. An additional 10 million will be current Verizon subscribers who upgrade from other devices, and the rest will come from other carriers,” BusinessWeek concludes.

The New York Times reported:
Around the world, many carriers, especially those that do not have access to the iPhone, have been promoting an array of handset models running on Google’s Android software. Collectively, those phones now outsell the iPhone.

Nielsen reported that Android accounted for 32 percent of the new smartphones sold in the United States in last six months. By comparison, the iPhone accounted for 25 percent. The numbers confirm those of other research organizations.

The Android’s rapid ascent threatens to blunt Apple’s lead in the market for high-end smart phones. No other Apple product brings as much revenue for the company as the iPhone, and analysts say that seeing that lucrative market imperiled may have finally pushed Apple into ending its exclusivity with AT&T.


It seems inevitable now: We could be just weeks – or even days – away from finally, officially learning there’s a CDMA-compatible iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network. Apple has ordered a spectacular 20-21 million iPhones from its Asia-based manufacturers, according to an article in Taiwan-based Digitimes.

This can only be good news for us consumers. Verizon I'm sure to keep customers, and try to capture more will offer deals on the phones as well as undercut AT&T pricing on plans. It spurs a whole new event launching the iphone again to a wider audience giving us all a choice and competion for our hard earned dollars. 

I'm waiting and hopeful this will be good news for us consumers. The clock has almost counted down to zero, lets see how this all unfolds.

What do YOU think...    UBTALKBACK...........