Issues: Healthcare Costs


No reason to be worried, it’s just life and death and 1/7 of the economy





Episode 3: A Remedy for Healthcare Choices

Alexis needs a new health care plan, but the options are so confusing. Here comes Gov to protect her from choices!

New to the series? You might want to check out our pilot episode first here.

Premiums have gone up 3.5 times faster than wages

Health-care-costs Created with Sketch. QUADRUPLE DOUBLE 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Family Premiums Single Premiums Median Wage 180% 140% 60% 100% 20%

Sources:

  1. The Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits, 1999–2014 (p 31)
  2. The Bureau of Labor Statistics

How is government affecting the healthcare industry? Well, it's:

  • Threatening people with fines to make them buy health insurance.
  • Banning cheaper insurance options that are popular among young and healthy people.
  • Forcing people to add coverage they don't need, such as making unmarried men pay for maternity coverage.
  • Hiding the actual cost of healthcare through its promotion of the third-party payment system and its disortion of the price system.

No one really understood the Affordable Care Act before they passed it, and people are still trying to figure out what it means. What’s for certain is that the government has intruded even more into the healthcare market leaving consumers with fewer choices while artificially increasing demand in health care resulting in even higher prices.

Check out these links to learn more: