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Has your insurance gone up?
- Thread starter Tera
- Start date
Wow so it isn't just me then. This is really crappy. Insurance shouldn't keep going up. How do they expect people to be able top afford it!?
winstonwolf
New member
I am surprised by what I read here. It's not the same in the UK because we have the full to breaking point National Health Service.
It sounds like there's a problem with Health Insurers charging what they want out of convenience.
You have to pay the premium therefore they will rip you off.
It's almost as if they're banking on you not paying so you don't go to hospital and clog up the beds and doctors system.
There must be advice available on this. I apologise if I'm stating the obvious or patronising.
There must also be competitor insurers who would do it cheaper or an explanation as to why it's gone up.
In the UK, car insurance has gone up recently by 10% for all customers, not just those who claim, because of losses the insurers are making from fraudulent claims.
They pass their losses on to the customer. They have to still be competitive at the same time.
If a company doesn't want your business they will price you out.
Shopping around may seem obviousl but it is definitely the best option. Better than having no health cover at all.
It sounds like there's a problem with Health Insurers charging what they want out of convenience.
You have to pay the premium therefore they will rip you off.
It's almost as if they're banking on you not paying so you don't go to hospital and clog up the beds and doctors system.
There must be advice available on this. I apologise if I'm stating the obvious or patronising.
There must also be competitor insurers who would do it cheaper or an explanation as to why it's gone up.
In the UK, car insurance has gone up recently by 10% for all customers, not just those who claim, because of losses the insurers are making from fraudulent claims.
They pass their losses on to the customer. They have to still be competitive at the same time.
If a company doesn't want your business they will price you out.
Shopping around may seem obviousl but it is definitely the best option. Better than having no health cover at all.
Crazy Saver
New member
Its a pretty complex situation here. Insurance companies actually have pretty thin profit margins. So they try to control costs from health care providers, which causes more burearcy for the providers, which increases prices, and its a viscious cycle.
Throw into that the sheer number of lawsuits related to health care here, with huge settlement amounts, and doctors must carry extremely expensive liability insurance policies. And because they are so afraid of being the target of a lawsuit, they will order many tests which may not be needed. Say its 95% possible the cause is one thing, and 5% possible the cause is the other. Instead of ordering one test for the 95%, then only the 5% test if the 95% shows nothing.... they order both at the same time. Further driving up costs.
Then our Food and Drug Administration makes new drug testing so difficult and expensive, taking 10 years or more to approve a drug, and the drug companies sink billions of dollars into a single new drug. Then pass on those costs to the consumer.
Even with health care plans through the state, the costs the states bear is so high they can't possibly give a free policy except to the very poor.
Its a big mess and no easy solution.
Throw into that the sheer number of lawsuits related to health care here, with huge settlement amounts, and doctors must carry extremely expensive liability insurance policies. And because they are so afraid of being the target of a lawsuit, they will order many tests which may not be needed. Say its 95% possible the cause is one thing, and 5% possible the cause is the other. Instead of ordering one test for the 95%, then only the 5% test if the 95% shows nothing.... they order both at the same time. Further driving up costs.
Then our Food and Drug Administration makes new drug testing so difficult and expensive, taking 10 years or more to approve a drug, and the drug companies sink billions of dollars into a single new drug. Then pass on those costs to the consumer.
Even with health care plans through the state, the costs the states bear is so high they can't possibly give a free policy except to the very poor.
Its a big mess and no easy solution.
winstonwolf
New member
I don't have the solution.
Our NHS is allegedly at breaking point but keeps on surviving.
We pay tax to fund it.
Health Insurance here helps you jump the queue and get professional care now.
I can't imagine being in a situation where I would have to decide to risk not having any care if I or my family became ill or got injured.
The profits of insurance companies here are thin also. I dealt with one insurer scheme years ago where we were writing policies too cheap for our customers, they stopped us from dealing with them because they were making a loss from claims 3 months into a 12 month year and couldn't afford our brokerage to put those customers with them
It was our loss and no one else's because we put the premiums too low with high risk customers.
Certainly a lesson I learned about profit and loss and risk taking.
Our NHS is allegedly at breaking point but keeps on surviving.
We pay tax to fund it.
Health Insurance here helps you jump the queue and get professional care now.
I can't imagine being in a situation where I would have to decide to risk not having any care if I or my family became ill or got injured.
The profits of insurance companies here are thin also. I dealt with one insurer scheme years ago where we were writing policies too cheap for our customers, they stopped us from dealing with them because they were making a loss from claims 3 months into a 12 month year and couldn't afford our brokerage to put those customers with them
It was our loss and no one else's because we put the premiums too low with high risk customers.
Certainly a lesson I learned about profit and loss and risk taking.