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Health insurance coverage: How to make it affordable for individuals and businesses
According to the 2005 Idaho Fringe Benefits Survey from Idaho Commerce and Labor, there wasn't much difference between the percentages of medium and large businesses when it came to providing health plans to their full-time employees. More than93 percent of businesses with 50 to 99 employees offered health insurance benefits to their full-time employees in 2005; more than 95 percent of businesses with 100 to 249 employees offered health insurance; and more than 96 percent of businesses with 250 or more employees offered health insurance benefits. Rapidly rising insurance premiums are causing even large employers to shift more of the costs to their workers. And some employers are just dropping insurance benefits altogether, which adds even more people to the ranks of the uninsured and to the Medicaid rolls. Meanwhile, the insured end up paying the costs of the uninsured through even higher premiums, until they can no longer afford to and also end up in the ranks of the uninsured or on Medicaid. According to the 2005 Idaho Fringe Benefits Survey from Idaho Commerce and Labor, there wasn't much difference between the percentages of medium and large businesses in providing health plans. Significantly fewer small employers, those with fewer than 10 employees, offered health insurance.
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Consumer responsibility
[John Kee] weighed the options, and the price tag. The CT scan would have cost between $600 and $700 out of his own pocket. Knowing the doctor well, and knowing that kidney stones ran in Kee's family, Kee decided to pass on the scan -- and later passed the kidney stone. He signed a paper taking responsibility for his decision. Kee said the price had a lot to do with his decision. Had his deductible been lower and had his insurance covered most of the CT scan costs, he might have decided differently. And that's why, although Kee advocates a single-payer system, he said the consumer should be a participant through affordable co-pays. That helps prevent overuse of the system.
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Poverty could be just a health crisis away: Rising health care costs lead to bankruptcy, uninsured rolls
At the same time, reimbursements from government-sponsored Medicare and Medicaid are shrinking, and insurance companies, which follow Medicare's lead, are lowering their reimbursements, too. The insured end up making up those costs through higher premiums. John Kee, chief executive officer at St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, has a name for the vicious circle. He calls it \"the jaws effect.\" In 2004-05, 15 percent of Idahoans were uninsured, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And as insurance premiums continue to rise, Kee predicts the hospital will see even more uninsured people coming through its doors. He estimates the hospital spends 2 percent to 3 percent of its revenue on charity care each year, and that doesn't include what it spends covering unpaid bills. Sources: Urban Institute, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and U.S. Census Bureau surveysUrban Institute, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and U.S. Census Bureau surveys
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Time for a change?: Health care system due for an overhaul, many say
Dr. Rod Kack, a local ear, nose and throat doctor, says the problems all started about three decades ago when medicine ceased being an art and became a business. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and other insurance companies replaced doctors as the decision makers. Kack believes there needs to be a big change in health care, but he stops short of advocating a single-payer national health insurance system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, while delivery of care remains largely private. They're not booing so much anymore. In fact, a number of physicians across the U.S. have banded together and formed Physicians for a National Health Program. According to the organization's Web site, the reason the U.S. spends more and gets less on health care than other industrialized nations is because the U.S. has a \"patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: Overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay.\" In turn, doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. PNHP estimates that all this administration consumes a third of Americans' health dollars.
Newsletter
Jerome hospital sold Minnesota-based Benedictine Health System taking over
\"We considered how to advance health care services in Jerome, and determined that a Catholic partnership based on our clinical strengths and BHS' special expertise operating long-term care and rural health care facilities made the most sense,\" said Sandra Bruce, president and chief executive officer at Saint Alphonsus, in the news release. \"We will continue to play a significant role with ongoing clinical collaboration to ensure that St. Benedicts and other rural community hospitals have access to our critical care services, specialty physicians and state-of-the-art technologies.
Newsletter
Vinifera Wines gets a new owner
Wine shopVinifera Wines, at 138 Main Ave. S. in Twin Falls, offers a variety of wines and appetizers as well as a light lunch menu. The wine bar's hours are noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Lunch is available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. [Arlin Hilarides] has a lot in common with [Jon Melone]. She, too, is not afraid to venture off the beaten path. A former dairy farmer, she moved with her husband, Bert, to Twin Falls 35 years ago from Chino, Calif., to open a dairy north of Wendell. After Bert died in 1989, she worked as a Realtor and as a Dell Inc. customer service agent. When her son, who works at Con Paulos, heard Vinifera Wines was on the selling block, he suggested they go into business together.
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Entitlements, immigration and CAFOs: Sen. Craig talks issues with editorial board
[Larry Craig] also talked about dairies. Some say that confined animal feeding operations, which emit ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, should have to report those pollutants to federal and state officials under the Superfund law, also known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act. But Craig said agriculture was exempt from having to comply with the law when it was enacted back in the 1970s. Craig was trying to make the point that people are living longer. Meanwhile, the first wave of the 76 million baby boomers are nearing retirement. If Congress doesn't do something now to manage spending on entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, those three things alone could eat up the entire federal budget in 2040, Craig said.
Newsletter
Cashing in: Cactus Petes cage cashier named 2006 Team Member of the Year, takes home new car
Monday evenings celebration honored Cactus Petes team members who demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments during 2006. Leading up to the annual awards, Cactus Petes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ameristar Casinos, awards $250 each month to three Team Member of the Month recipients \" one from the gaming division, one from the food and beverage division and one from the support area, which includes all other departments such as administration, finance and hotel. Team members are nominated for exhibiting excellence in job performance, displaying unsurpassed guest service or going the extra mile in contributing to the team. At years end, three individuals are selected from among the monthly winners for the Team Member of the Year award.
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