No Healing In Health Care: The Plight of Small Businesses

Many people have been appalled by my employer's request for staff not to seek medical care unless absolutely necessary. It really does sound horrible but having worked at a health insurance organization and having seen the things I've seen, it would be wrong of me to judge too harshly.

Yeah, you've heard it all by now -- employer health care costs have risen an average of 15% each year over five years to an average of about $700 per month per employee, according to surveys by The Kaiser Family Institute and The National Association of Health Underwriters. As a result, 47% of America's small businesses can provide no health coverage at all.

But how can Missouri even ALLOW insurance carriers to charge 207% ABOVE their retail rate? In and of itself, that seems just criminal. Given that over 99% of our economy is driven by small businesses, it is no wonder that our economy is suffering.

Are you aware that insurance companies can get insurance (referred to as reinsurance) of their own to cover financially-devastating claims? (A catastrophic claim might consist of someone being diagnosed with Hemophilia or having a child needing Human Growth Hormone shots.) As of 1999, United Health Care maintained a 50% Quota share with it's reinsurance company. I'm no accountant, but that seems like a nice-enough chunk of comfortable padding to NOT have to charge 207% above retail.

Another thing that blows me away is the whole concept of HIPPA protecting my privacy. If my health records are so protected and private then why I am I required to complete a disclosure form (see above) detailing my intimate personal health details when obtaining new insurance? If I were a radical then I would suspect that HIPPA was actually created so that insurance companies can get to my health records and either deny me care for pre-existing conditions or charge me an extra 207%.

So ... it's hard to blame my boss for wanting to keep his business and the rest of us employed. It's a tough situation. If one of us goes to the doctor and gets a diagnosis of Hemophilia then the whole company will not be able to ever get health care again. He fought with United Healthcare for at least two months, has been one the phone negotiating with other companies all week, and has claimed he will cover any care that we need out of his own pocket. Gotta look higher than the little guy on this one ... after all, he may be paying for the echo cardiogram I got yesterday and the Holter monitor I have to wear for the next month.