Controlling health care costs is on everyone’s mind these days. Actually, we don’t care about health care costs just health insurance premiums but that is a whole other story.
The trouble is you can’t separate the two despite what the politicians may say.
There is something else you can’t leave out of the equation and that’s you and me. The next time you hear someone say they are going to focus on controlling health care costs listen carefully.
If you don’t hear that controlling health care costs means you must change the way you live, use health care services and the way you receive health care, they are either lying or they don’t know what they are talking about.
Here is an example of the relationship to health care costs and the people who use health care.
How does obesity affect health care costs?
Also consider this September 14 AP story by Tom Murphy:
Many factors contribute to the rising cost of providing insurance, including expensive medical treatment, health issues related to obesity and an aging population, the number of unemployed taking advantage of short-term benefits and the effect of the new health care law. In a survey of about 60 health organizations around the country earlier in the year, Aon Consulting, a subsidiary of insurance broker Aon Corp., found that insurers expect to pay out 10.7 percent more in claims for preferred provider organization, or PPO, managed care.
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