On May 12, 2:56=A0pm, "aw" <aw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> =A0 =A0 =A0 The absence of any responses to any of the direct
> =A0 =A0 =A0 health care arguments indicates that we have again
> =A0 =A0 =A0 managed to stretch your cranial ganglion to its limit.
> =A0 =A0 =A0 So give it a rest for a while, eh?
> =A0 =A0 =A0 Don't forget your assignment ;-)
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 Kujebaku neboj, =A0Feeb te pod****i i kdyz budes placat (jako
v=
zdy
> piciciny).:-))))))))))))))))))))))))
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 US health insurance costs rise nearly twice
as=
fast as pay:
> survey
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The cost of health insurance in the United
States =
climbed nearly
> twice as fast as wages in the first half of 2007, with family coverage
> costing employers around 1,000 dollars (714 euros) a month, a poll
showed
> Wednesday.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance
r=
ose an average
> of 6.1 percent in 2007, while wages went up by 3.7 percent, the Employer
> Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the
> Health Research and Educational Trust showed.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The 6.1 percent rise in health insurance
premiums =
marked a
> slowdown from the rate of increase last year, but also strongly outpaced
> inflation, running at 2.6 percent.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 "In 2007, the increase in health insurance
premium=
s was about
> twice the rate of inflation and not quite twice the increase in workers'
> pay," Kaiser vice-president Gary Claxton said in a webcast.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Premiums for family coverage have surged by 78
per=
cent since
> 2001, while wages have gone up 19 percent.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The average premium for family coverage in 2007
wa=
s just over
> 12,000 dollars, with workers having to pick up part of the cost.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Workers contributed, on average, 273 dollars a
mon=
th towards
> family health coverage packages, up from 248 dollars last year, the
survey=
,
> which polled just over 3,000 public and private employers with three or
mo=
re
> workers during the first five months of 2007, showed.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 "Every year health insurance becomes less
affordab=
le for
> families and businesses. Over the past six years, the amount families
pay
> out of pocket for their share of premiums has increased by about 1,500
> dollars," Drew Altman, chief executive of Kaiser, said in a statement.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Employers in the United States offer health
insura=
nce packages
> as a worker benefit.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 In 2007, 60 percent of US firms offered health
ben=
efits.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 That was down by nine percentage points on
compani=
es offering
> health care packages in 2000, the survey showed.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Low-paid workers were found to have the fewest
hea=
lthcare
> options, because the small firms they tend to work for are less likely
to
> offer coverage.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The high cost of premiums was cited as a main
reas=
on firms fail
> to provide healthcare coverage to their employees.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 A survey released last month by the US Census
Bure=
au showed that
> 47 million people had no health insurance in the United States last
year, =
up
> from 44.8 million in 2005.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 France is healthcare leader, US comes dead last:
s=
tudy
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Jan 8, 2008
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 WA****NGTON (AFP) - France is tops, and the
United =
States dead
> last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens,
> according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized
> countries.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published
i=
n the
> January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed
> countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of
Natio=
ns: Updating
> an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School
of=
> Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects
younge=
r
> than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical
car=
e.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The researchers found that while most countries
su=
rveyed saw
> preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United
States
> saw only a four percent dip.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed
t=
he study,
> expressed alarm at the findings.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 "It is startling to see the US falling even
farthe=
r behind on
> this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth
Fu=
nd
> Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are
> reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The 19 countries, in order of best to worst,
were:=
France,
> Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece,
> Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, ****tugal, Spain,
Sweden,=
> the United Kingdom and the United States.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Some countries showed dramatic improvement in
the =
periods
> studied -- 1997 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2003 -- outpacing
the
> United States, which showed only slight improvement.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 White the United States ranked 15th of 19
between =
1997-98, by
> 2002-03 it had fallen to last place.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 "It is notable that all countries have improved
su=
bstantially
> except the US," said Ellen Nolte, lead author of the study.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Had the United States performed as well as any
of =
the top three
> industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per
> year, the researchers said.
Excuse me, but that' not what I asked. I asked what
****tion of *your* paycheck is eaten away by health
insurance premiums. Never mind what the employer
pays. I'll tell you what I pay - I pay 1.5% tax for Medi-
care, OK, that's for financing care for retirees and dis-
abled. Then I pay another 1.5% of my gross for my
****tion of health plan premiums for myself, and my
family. As I said, what the employer kicks in is imma-
terial, because, although, unlike y'all up in the Ame-
rica's Hat, I can opt out of employer sponsored health
coverage, but I would never see that money if I did.
So there's no point in losing any sleep over it. OK, there
we go, all summed up, it is only a big, fat 3% of what
I earn. Now for that, I get first class, otherwise heretofore
referred to as cadillac health care.
Now, would one of you Canadiuans care to tell me
how much your "guaranteed health care" is costing
you - as far as how much more money, in relative terms,
you could be bringing home if you had the option of
not participating in your triaged involuntary national
(or provincial, or whatever) health system?
I am getting seriously impatient with you Tony.
It seems you are just asking for another F.
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