The Netherlands: Health insurance to rise by €10 a month, government sources say

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The paper bases its claim on government sources, who suggest the €10 monthly rise will be included in the health ministry budget, due to be announced next Tuesday. The government determines the make-up of the basic healthcare insurance policy and insurers are free to compete on price, top up premiums and other issues such as choice of hospital.

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more at: Health insurance to rise by €10 a month, government sources say - DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands: Health insurance costs likely to rise by 62 euros next year

The price of the basic required health insurance package is likely to rise by 62 euros per year to about 1,476 euros annually, political sources told newspaper AD. The total increase was significantly lower than the 144 euro increase which had been predicted by analysts.

The announcement was expected to be made later this month when the Cabinet's proposed budget is revealed on September 15. The increase of about 5.17 euros monthly could still shift up or down by a few dozen cents, the newspaper said. The estimate was agreed upon by the coalition parties, and is based on an insurer having a deductible of 385 euros.

From that baseline price, health insurers then set their own fees. Discounts are often offered for bundled add-on coverage, opting out of coverage at some locations, or by making a full annual payment up front instead of dividing it over the course of the year. Raising the deductible is also an option for reducing the price a consumer pays. Consumers have the option of switching their health insurance at the end of the year.

The price increase had been expected to be larger due to the coronavirus crisis, though former Medical Care Minister Martin van Rijn said that was unlikely. This could still impact the cost of insurance in 2022, the newspaper reported.

Note EU-Digest: This is scandalous, and proves once again that healthcare is a common right for every citizen, just like education, and not a commodity for the greedy profit oriented private sector to control. The Netherlands healthcare system is, unfortunately, starting to resemble the US healthcare system.

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Health insurance costs likely to rise by 62 euros next year: Report | NL Times

The Netherlands - Insurance Industry: Family doctors can work together to make deals with insurers

The Dutch consumer and markets authority ACM is to give family doctors and other health practitioners more leeway to work together to negotiate fees with health insurance companies.

The ACM’s chairman Chris Fonteijn told the NRC at the weekend that doctors and physiotherapists can work together if it is in the interests of the patient. What they may not do is divide up areas between them, boycott a health insurer as a group or stop new doctors setting up practices, Fonteijn said. In addition, doctors who do break competition laws will be given a warning before the ACM issues fines, he said.

The Dutch consumer and markets authority ACM is to give family doctors and other health practitioners more leeway to work together to negotiate fees with health insurance companies. The ACM’s chairman Chris Fonteijn told the NRC at the weekend that doctors and physiotherapists can work together if it is in the interests of the patient.

What they may not do is divide up areas between them, boycott a health insurer as a group or stop new doctors setting up practices, Fonteijn said. In addition, doctors who do break competition laws will be given a warning before the ACM issues fines, he said.

Read more: Family doctors can work together to make deals with insurers: ACM - DutchNews.nl

Insurance Industry Study: One in four Americans who purchased insurance still can't afford medical care

Just because you have health insurance doesn't mean you can afford medical care, as this Families USA study concluded.

One in four people who bought health insurance on their own in the US couldn’t afford medical care last year, according to a study released Thursday that shows out-of-pockets costs are still getting between Americans and their doctors despite Obamacare’s progress in cutting the ranks of the uninsured.

One in four people who bought health insurance on their own couldn’t afford medical care last year, according to a study released Thursday that shows out-of-pockets costs are still getting between Americans and their doctors despite Obamacare’s progress in cutting the ranks of the uninsured.

Families USA studied people who purchased insurance in the non-group market — they weren’t covered through their jobs or a public program — in 2014, the first full year for which Obamacare’s marketplace was fully operational, and found 25.2 percent struggled to get care or pay for needed drugs.

Some of those studied entered Obamacare’s health exchanges, while others sought out coverage in the off-exchange market.

Lower and middle-income people were hit especially hard by high deductibles — the amount that must be paid before insurers will pay a claim — and other expenses that come straight from their wallets.

Read more: Blog: Study: One in four Americans who purchased insurance still can't afford medical care

Europe to tackle Spain in health insurance row

The European Commission is launching legal action against Spain over the refusal of some hospitals to recognise the European Health Insurance Card.

The EHIC entitles EU citizens to free healthcare in public hospitals.

But some Spanish hospitals rejected the card and told tourists to reclaim the cost of treatment via their travel insurance, the Commission says.

Read more: BBC News - Europe to tackle Spain in health insurance row

Dutch Government coalition finds alternative for controversial health insurance premium plan - by Thomas Whittle

Mark Rutte: "I made a mistake"

The new Dutch government of Liberals VVD and Labor PvdA has found an alternative for the controversial deal on an income-related health insurance premium in the coalition agreement, local media reported on Tuesday citing the two parties’ announcement.

By linking health premiums to income, the plan on income-related health insurance premium means people with an annual income of over 70,000 euros (90,615 U.S. dollars) will have to pay 482 euros per month in health insurance fees while people on welfare benefits will pay just 20 euros, Nos television reported.

The plan has provoked strong reactions from voters and members of the VVD, traditionally a party of people with higher incomes. They blame VVD leader Mark Rutte for being trapped by PvdA leader Diederik Samsom.

The income-related healthcare premium is now replaced by higher tax. The new deal will still hit people with higher incomes the hardest, but their purchasing power will drop less than in the old agreement.

“I made a mistake as a negotiator of the VVD,” Prime Minister Rutte said at a press conference on Monday evening.  “I offer my apologies. I considered it as my job to correct the mistake, and that’s what we did. We seek to reduce the income differences now in the atmosphere of the income tax, and no longer in the care premium,” he said.

Read more: Dutch coalition finds alternative for controversial health insurance premium plan - NZweek

Netherlands: Healthcare insurance cost tripled over past seven years since Government introduced new privatized scheme

The cost of healthcare insurance has tripled over the past seven years in the Netherlands , a recent study showed.
 
In 2005, when the Netherlands had a state run national healthcare service, people with insurance would receive a rebate if they stayed below the allowed cost for treatments.

With the new privatized healthcare system there also is a deductible based on the premium a person pays, turning the Dutch health care insurance into what some say is a “win-win” situation for the Dutch health-care insurance companies.

For people which had the least costly insurance in 2005, the cost has risen even five times, says the report.

Insurance company DSW says it will not raise its own-risk premium in 2013 because parmaceutical products have become cheaper. However, other insurers are saying they will have to raise the own-risk price to cover their costs.

A recent poll also showed that 80 % of the Dutch population wants to return to the old National Health Care Foundation Program.

EU-Digest

Health Care Reform Will Positively Remake Health Insurance Market For Young Adults

Presently adults under 30 are more likely to go without health insurance than children or older adults. Those just starting out are more likely to be unemployed, work in industries like retail and food service that don't provide health benefits, freelance, have part-time jobs or simply earn less because they're at the beginning of their careers.

A Commonwealth Fund survey found that 10.4 million Americans between the ages of 19 and 29 had no health insurance during at least part of the 12 months before November 2011. That's 39 percent of people in that age group, more than any other.

A revolution may now be on the way for the under-30 set: Thanks to the provisions put in place under the new health care law, the days of needing a job just to get affordable health insurance may be over.
The shift in how Americans can get health insurance, in some ways a little noticed effect of the sweeping 2010 law that will be in full force by 2014, could be particularly radical for young adults.

They are uninsured at higher rates than any other age group and face a job market less likely to provide health benefits than the one their older siblings and parents entered in their 20s.
"If you want a career that doesn't tend to be associated with companies that provide health insurance coverage, you'll have more options," said Sara Collins, the vice president for affordable health insurance at the Commonwealth Fund. "It frees people's work-life decisions."

Read more: Health Care Reform Will Positively Remake Health Insurance Market For Young Adults

US Supreme Court issues historic ruling ensuring millions of Americans will get affordable health care

The Supreme Court issued a historic ruling: They upheld the Affordable Care Act and ensured that millions of American families will have access to health care and protection from the worst abuses of the insurance industry. Lots of people have questions about the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court's decision, and their health care coverage. For additional useful information -- including President Obama's remarks after the announcement click here .

EU-Digest

Europe not US has the right model on health care

Barack Obama's once boasted that Americans have better health care than the best India can throw at them. This is both true and pointless. It is not as if this stunning fact was spotted accidentally by a window cleaner. If the United States is spoiling for a punch- up on health policy, it should pick on somebody its own size and come out in the open. America's real challenger is not India, but Europe.

Though Europe has done extremely well by all health parameters, it has not been able to broadcast its model effectively. In fact, every time medical expenses as proportion of Gross Domestic Product (or GDP) goes up by even a tiny bit, either in Sweden, Italy, France or Luxembourg, influential policy makers in America, as well as in India, use it to discredit the European medical system.

Notwithstanding nips and tucks, the bare fact that Europeans live longer than Americans should have settled the contest long ago. In America only 12.6 per cent cross the age of 65 whereas the figure is 16.7 per cent and 21.5 per cent in Europe and Japan respectively. What is more, the European model is also cost effective.

The United States spends about 16 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health, whereas the European average is around 9 per cent. Europe delivers better medical care at cheaper rates because it has limited the role of the private sector in this field. This makes it harder for ants to run away with the picnic.

Has state sponsored universal health delivery undermined medical care in Europe? No. While there are just 2.4 beds for every thousand in the United States, in Europe the figure is 3.1. On this parameter alone, America would rank a lowly 23rd amongst other European countries. Neither is the tale of the tape flattering when we compare the availability of beds for acute care between America and Europe. In Europe there are 3.7 beds per thousand dedicated for this purpose, whereas in America it is just 2.8.

America's status falls further when we consider infant mortality rates (IMR) - an important public health index. With an IMR of 6.75 per thousand live births the USA would rank 27th in Europe.  Even Cuba does better on this account.

Infrastructure wise, there are other bits of bad news from America. In terms of practizing physicians, for example, Europe easily outdoes the USA. Whereas there are 2.4 such professionals for every thousand in America, the number rises to 3.1 when we look at OECD countries.

EU-Digest

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/americas-real-challenger-is-not-india-but-europe./1/137256.html

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/americas-real-challenger-is-not-india-but-europe./1/137256.html

Survey: US Health insurance costs surge in 2011

Annual premiums for family coverage climbed 9 percent and surpassed $15,000 for the first time, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. Premiums for single coverage rose 8 percent compared to 2010.

That compares to increases last year of 3 and 5 percent for family and single coverage, respectively. The study shows that premiums for both family and single coverage have more than doubled since 2001, while worker wages have risen 34 percent.

Kaiser CEO Drew Altman said a number of factors may have played a role in this year's percentage jump. He noted that health care costs continue to rise, and insurer profits and the health care overhaul also have some impact.

For more: Survey: US Health insurance costs surge in 2011 | ajc.com

US Economy: Medical bankruptcy: Medical debts push middle class families into bankruptcy - by Kate Santich

Though financial failures in the USA often have been blamed on careless consumer borrowing or the widespread layoffs of the recession, the Sutherlands' financial storyline is strikingly common.

Two years ago, researchers at Harvard and Ohio universities reported that 62 percent of all bankruptcies were related to medical debt. An American family, they said, filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of illness every 90 seconds — and three-quarters of those families had health insurance.
Although the data used for the study is now 4 years old, most experts interviewed said the problem is likely only to have worsened, at least until this year, as out-of-pocket medical costs have continued to spiral.

In addition, widespread layoffs have contributed to the rapid rise in uninsured Americans, who now number more than 59 million. For most of them, any major medical expense threatens to overwhelm their resources, leading to further bankruptcies and driving up costs for those who can pay. According to Families USA — a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer-advocacy group — the shifting of uncompensated care onto insured patients results in a "hidden health tax."

For more: Medical bankruptcy: Medical debts push middle class families into bankruptcy - Orlando Sentinel

The Netherlands: - Insurers not worried about cost of rise in hospital births

Health insurance companies are not concerned about the increasing popularity of hospital births because they cost about the same as a home birth, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

'If a woman gives birth in an out-patients clinic, under the supervision of a midwife, it does not cost much more than a home birth,' a spokesman for the health insurance company association said.

For more: DutchNews.nl - Insurers not worried about cost of rise in hospital births

Insurance Industry USA: Private health insurance industry has failed patients

All of the well-publicized political health care programs have one thing in common: They all seek to steer larger portions of Medicare and Medicaid through private insurance corporations. They differ only in their degrees of rationing, with President Obama's plan restricting rationing for profit and Rep. Paul Ryan's mandate allowing the most rationing by the health insurance industry.

What Republicans and Democrats fail to disclose is that for more than 40 years the middle man of American health care - the private insurance industry - has failed in almost every capitalistic, economic and medical measure to deliver for the American patient.

Unlike auto insurance, private medical insurance has failed to accept and spread risk, thereby preventing the delivery of quality, affordable health care .

For more Private health insurance industry has failed patients