Why does health insurance cost so much? -

I dont get it. It is almost impossible to get the care you need if you work. But if you dont work the government will help you a lot. I only make 1300 a month and to get health insurance thru my work for me and my daughter and husband it is 880 a month!! How is someone supposed to live on that?? It's tough. You make too much to get state medical coverage but not enough to be able to afford regular coverage. The answer is you can't really afford it. Medical expenses are high and the insurance companies have to collect enough in premium to pay the expenses that are incurred and make a profit. Not sure if socialized medicine is the answer but something needs to be done! Health insurance is expensive because health CARE is expensive. Check out the costs of something as simple an an appendix removal, and then you will understand why the premiums on health insurance are what they are. I think it is because people are frivoulous treaters. Working in injury accident insurance I would see where people would be mildly sore from an auto accident and go to the ER 4 days later. That bill will be well over 1k...go to your GP or urgent care where the cost would be around $100. I am not saying not go but do so wisely. ER is not your primary care physician. The only way you can make health insurance more affordable is to examine the coverages that you have signed up for. You probably can't make any changes until the plan year anniversary. When you do have the opportunity have the agent who handles the group coverage (or the company HR people) present you with the alternatives available to you. Some changes that can save money are to increase your in hospital deductible, increase the prescription drug copay, increase the copay for doctors office visits, drop vision coverage, reconsider dental (if you have it). You are right it is very expensive but there are some things you can do to reduce your monthly premium and still maintain protection from enormous hospital bills that could bankrupt you. Health insurance costs so much because the claims are high. EVERYONE who has health insurance, puts in claims. Last year, charges for medical services averaged over $7,000 PER PERSON, for every man, woman and child in the USA, insured or not. Do the math. To divide out the claimse, each person probably needs to pay $583 per month. PER PERSON. So with $880 a month, you're employer is probably picking up about 1/4 of the cost, You're paying half the cost. Money has to come from SOMEWHERE. The insurance companies don't manufacture it. Neither does the government, actually. So, SOMEONE has to pay for your benefits. That's why health insurance costs so much. If the insurance companies KNEW you'd be putting in at least two claims a year on your car insurance, that would cost a lot more, too.