With the advent of “Obamacare,” as many call it, business owners started causing a fuss about having to provide health benefits for their employees. The complaints ranged from the reasonable concerns of small business owners barely making a profit as it is, to the more annoying moaning from large companies worried about charging customers an additional five cents for a pizza. Fortunately, according to a report from PwC, the rise of healthcare costs seems to be slowing, and may soon reach reasonable levels.
According to the report from PwC, the growth in medical costs will decrease over the next year, in spite of the many uninsured who are gaining new coverage under President Obama’s healthcare law. The areas where costs increase due to the law will be relatively contained, so most companies won’t have to worry about shilling out extra or cutting employee hours to help employees afford their doctors appointments.
However, the report also notes that those who buy individual coverage and the self-employed may see their premiums increase by 2014. As insurers must accept patients with pre-existing conditions, and policies must provide a more generous basic level of benefits, they’ll most likely raise the prices to compensate. Whether or not that’s a good thing is a matter of opinion, as there are those who are willing to pay a little extra to help others get by, and those who prefer supporting themselves alone with the money they earned. As always, this is a delicate issue, so I’m not attempting to say either side is right.
Fortunately, the workers and family members with job-based coverage are unlikely to be affected. As such, there are far fewer who will be seeing any increases in their payments than those who will be able to go about business as usual.
The report predicts that costs will grow at a much lower rate than predicted due to several factors. Employers shifting the costs to workers and efficiency measures is considered a part of that, as is patients obtaining affordable routine services in clinics at retail stores, rather than doctors’ offices or emergency rooms, as well as employers contracting directly with hospital systems. The government is also increasing the penalties on hospitals that have too many patients returning with the same problems shortly after being discharged, so hospitals will make greater efforts to provide the best help the first time around.
While costs will still rise, mostly due to the high price of new specialty drugs for chronic illnesses and the consolidation of the industry, it won’t be nearly as much as people seem to fear. Whether or not you support the healthcare law is entirely up to you, and should be based on the values you hold, but at least your wallet won’t have to worry as much initially claimed.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
