Alice in Co-payland

by reader noni mousa, doing regular citizen reseach for us all

Alice in Co-payland

Now and then some tiny little headline, like this from the Orlando
Business Journal, catches my eye and gives me that old Alice in
Wonderland feeling. Have a quick look:

Biz journal says:

Survey: Most companies will increase health care costs
Orlando Business Journal

Fifty-nine percent of companies intend to keep down rising health care
costs in 2009 by raising workers’ deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket
spending limits, according to a survey by the Mercer consulting firm.

On average, health care costs will rise by an estimated 5.7 percent
next year for both workers and their employers. That is equal to this
year’s increase and a 6.1 percent hike in 2007. ..

This only looked weird to me because I live in Canada. So if you didn’t
see what I saw, let me remind you they aren’t keeping down health
care costs — they’re shifting a chunk of the cost to employees
(those deductables and co-pays) in order to keep down the cost of
health insurance. Insurance agents are not allowed to practice
medicine, I am sure.

And oh, for added funniness, this was just below the story online:

Related News:

* Ex-federal prosecutor named to insurance brokerage board
* Here’s a novel way to speed up warehouse leasing

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by noni mousa