A national health care system may allow individuals to avoid paying for their health insurance. But the cost of health care will not reduce. In fact, it may actually increase. I’m not a big advocate of government-sponsored health care. I believe a combination of increased utilization of Health Savings Accounts, mandated (required) health care for everyone, increased tax credits and mandatory preventative visits will solve our problems.

James F. Pontuso, Charles Patterson Professor of Government & Foreign Affairs at Hampden-Sydney College, offers some very astute views…

The reason health care costs have risen is not because of waste, neglect, incompetence, or greed, but rather because medical care has become so much better.

Proponents of national health care insist that there will be reductions in administrative health-care costs. It is true that there are savings because of economies of scale, but has anyone ever seen a big government program administered efficiently?  Big government programs are almost always more expensive than expected exactly because bigness breeds inefficiency. A national health-care system in the U.S. may create the largest bureaucracy in the history of the world.

We could also reduce health care by capping the compensation for doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals. But we have to wonder whether the nursing shortage in the U.S. would get worse if nurses’ pay were lowered. As for my cardiologist, she loves medicine and she might have pursued her career even if it took her longer to pay off her debts. I know she is talented enough to succeed in most any profession she entered. Like most people who are really good at what they do, she wants to be compensated for all her hard work, dedication, long hours, and expert skill – such, after all, is the American dream.

The cost of national health care will be high either because good health care is expensive or because inexpensive health care will not be good. This is the issue which we face.

The full article can be found here!

Warning: You are about to enter “The Health Insurance Cartoon” zone! Although my sense of humor is legendary…normally, my blog articles focus on serious Ohio health insurance issues. But, not this time.

Please enjoy some of my favorite health insurance cartoons:

Best Medicine

Comprehensive Health Plan

Anesthesia

Company Health Insurance Plan

Ohio health insurance rates are quite affordable…especially if your employer is paying the premiums. However, if you’re self-employed or are paying your health care premiums yourself, they may not seem so affordable.

Consumers can reduce their Ohio health insurance rates by following some simple guidelines. Ohioquotes.com, the premier resource for Ohio health insurance plans, provides these rate-saving tips:

·        If you’re relatively healthy, always consider raising your catastrophic deductibles. The savings could easily be thousands of dollars per year.

·        Never buy an Ohio health insurance policy from an out-of state broker. They may recommend the wrong plan, and are quite likely to be unfamiliar with all of the available Ohio health care plans.

·        If any broker attempts to charge you an “application fee” or processing fee,” run away fast! The lone exception is some Ohio short-term policies.

·        If your rates have increased each of the last three years, it might be a good time to compare plans. Current Ohio health insurance rates may be less than the premium your older policy is costing you.

·        Consider an Ohio Health Savings Account (HSA). In addition to tax deductions, the savings in premiums can be deposited into a side account that pays current expenses. Potentially, you could save thousands of dollars.

·        Eliminate unneeded coverages. If you rarely visit a physician and there are no children on the policy, consider eliminating the coverage if the savings is substantial.

·        Let us review your current coverages. It’s possible there are some available discounts you’re not aware of. Also…simple “fine-tuning” instead of changing an existing plan might provide some premium savings.

Ohio health insurance rates don’t have to be high. For a free policy review, please call or email us. For an instant Ohio quote, please click on the “Get Instant Quote” button at the top of the page.

Every year, The Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) publishes complaint ratio data after receiving premium information for the previous year from Ohio health insurance companies.

In 2007, the ODI received 2826 complaints about health insurance from Ohio consumers. When a complaint is received, Ohio insurers must respond in a timely manner. Each complaint is documented, investigated and resolved.

If a company’s Ohio complaint ratio is 1.0, it had one complaint for every $1 million in written premium. Therefore, the lower the complaint ratio, the better.

Some of the Ohio health insurers with the lowest complaint ratios are:

.08  Anthem

.11  United HeathCare

.13  Medical Mutual

.14  Aetna

Ohio health insurers with higher complaint ratios are:

.67  Nationwide

.47  United American

.31  Time (Assurant)

The complete listing of Ohio Complaint Ratios can be found here.

Yes, this a blog about Ohio health insurance. But forgive me, because I am deviating from the normal content this one time. I think you’ll understand why when you watch this video. Can you say “WOW”?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related