Skyrocketing health insurance rates blamed on higher price of medical care

Health insurance plan

Rising costs from hospitals and other providers increase spending throughout downturn. Recent research is now showing that the heightened prices that were charged by outpatient centers, hospitals, and other healthcare providers were responsible for sending the cost of health insurance upward at twice the rate of inflation throughout the recession and economic struggle to recover. This was the case even as there was less consumption overall of medical care by patients. According to a Health Care Cost Institute report, In the case of outpatient surgery, emergency room visits, substance abuse…

Read More

S.C. Budget and Control Board raises rates on public employee health insurance.

The South Carolina Budget and Control Board has voted to increase the premiums of the state-run health insurance program that offers coverage to public employees. The board voted Tuesday to raise the rates of the program by 4.5% total which will be put into effect at the beginning of next year. More than 400,000 state employees are covered by the program as well as 100,000 retirees. The vote has drawn some criticism from state workers who argue that the increase is unjustifiable. Employees of the state say that they had…

Read More