Why Does Health Insurance Cost So Much?

Why does health insurance cost so much? Year after year, many of the articles that appear in print detail the specific factors driving the cost of healthcare.

These factors include: general inflation, advances in drugs and other medical devices, rising hospital and doctor expenses, government mandates, increased consumer demand, litigation, fraud, and cost shifting.

The basic answer is that a magic bullet to solve the cost of insurance does not exist because the real difficulty is controlling the cost of healthcare. A simple way to dramatically decrease the dollars spent on healthcare is to reduce the demand for healthcare.

I have seen estimates that up to 40% of all healthcare related expenses result from preventable conditions. These preventable conditions are caused by lifestyle choices such as tobacco, obesity, stress, lack of exercise and poor diet.

Most of us, myself included, make lifestyle choices everyday that eventually increase our demand for healthcare. We are never going to be able to totally eliminate all lifestyle related healthcare costs. However, improved lifestyle choices would cause a dramatic reduction in demand. This would then result in a similar reduction in the dollars spent on healthcare.

Lower demand for healthcare would result in lower health insurance costs, increased productivity, and reduced absenteeism. If your organization has not done so already, your organizational leaders need to seriously consider the benefits of health promotion and disease prevention programs. Your return on investment will most likely be as high as 2:1 in the first year.

Michael Ertel is the President of Ertel & Company, Inc. and has over 15 years of experience in the health insurance business. He is the founder of MedicalInsuranceNow.com which is an internet based service that assists individuals, families, and small business owners by providing side by side comparisons of health insurance alternatives and the convenience of applying for health coverage online.

MORE RESOURCES:

Concepta Insurance Consolidation Facility Receives DOJ Clearance - MarketWatch

Health insurance sticker shock hits consumers - Chicago Tribune

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/triage/2008/12/health-insuranc.htmlcid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNH53QQOlfCGQuq-H_3OiYxSBSRzOwHealth binsurance/b sticker shock hits consumers/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fChicago Tribune,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr8 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Health binsurance/b sticker shock overcame Mickey Trznadel when he opened an envelope from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois earlier this year, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Blue-Cross-Blue-Shield-Michigan/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B5379FA18-BBBE-4084-A40A-AB5CFFB0BDAD%257Dcid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNE7Z5AgP3oBIoRktpim4mAj4HMoOwBlue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Answers Attorney General/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.mlive.com/annarbornews/news/index.ssf/2008/12/blues_michigan_ag_continue_hea.htmlcid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNEEP-yVfZlZLSXiFmczVuV3XeQOGwBlues, Michigan AG continue health binsurance/b fight/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMLive.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/12/blue_cross_blue_shield_of_mich.htmlcid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNGlX7W4IpWVfQj_TSdqXFiMEbYUVwBlue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan continues push for health b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrKalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.freep.com/article/20081201/FEATURES08/81201068cid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNFqJoGB8XmnhyjJ6pupEbLBIHzusgnobrDetroit Free Press/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20081201/FREE/812010270/-1cid=1276133500ei=rag0Se6dHYGi9gSy9N0nusg=AFQjCNHICySGg5i59UhoaOHrd9TCQFnNtgnobrCrain's Detroit Business/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276133500hl=ennobrall 23 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Morning Rounds Rising Stress Levels, Limited Health Insurance and ... - New York Times

Premiums for workers#39; comp insurance to rise 3% - Seattle Times

Drivers without insurance will have their vehicles towed after Jan. 1 - Dallas Morning News

State warns about auto insurance phone scam - Akron Beacon Journal

Navigators Expands and Strengthens Professional Liability Division - MarketWatch

Prudential PLC eyes AIG#39;s Taiwanese life insurance unit - MarketWatch

State wants college students to get health insurance - Salt Lake Tribune

RAM Holdings Announces Commutation of $10.6 Billion Par MBIA ... - MarketWatch

Insurance - Google News

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