Study: Health insurance costs divided proportionally

 

Tuesday, Apr 07,2009, 3:16:03 PM   Click:

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BOSTON_A new study says one of the key principles of the history of Massachusetts law on health care reform: employers, individuals and the government are proportional sharing of the burden of paying for insurance.

Total expenditure on health care rose by 23 percent after the new law's passage dollars against 20.8 billion in 2005 to $ 25.5 billion in 2007. But the distribution of expenses among the three groups hardly changed.

The report, published by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation found that employers paid about half of total health expenditure in 2005 and 2007. Individuals and state and federal government nearly split the other half.

"The message here is the stability of the exchange, at least in the early stages," said Robert Seifert, an author of the report. Seifert has participated in a panel Monday to discuss the findings, which he described as encouraging.

"Part of it is that things are not that great change fast," Seifert continued, but I think this is largely due to the fact that we did not take it outside and set up some something new. "

In all, the report said employers accounted for about half the expenditure in 2005 and 2007. The percentage of individual contributions has remained the same at 25 percent. Rates of government has remained at 27 percent.

Seifert said, even without the expansion of health care, health care costs would likely have been 60 per cent of the total increase _ about _ $ 2.8 billion because of rising medical costs.


According to the report, the largest increase in spending by private coverage has been purchased by people without access to employer is not entitled to a blanket and a public program. But this total, from $ 251 million in 2005 to $ 337 million in 2007, accounted for only 5 percent of expenditures. Most of the workers was paid premiums for health plans for employers.

Government contribution has increased slightly faster than the other two groups because of Commonwealth Care, a new public program. Individuals also paid more to discover the services that the government pay for them has fallen, the report said.

Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, executive director of the advocacy group Health Care for All, said the show the success of the Massachusetts system.

"There was a concern that employers would stop providing coverage, because the public is available and this is not the case," said Whitcomb Slemmer, who was also a member of the jury. "This is a sign of success for Massachusetts. "

Nearly three years after the adoption of the law that mandates health insurance for virtually all residents of Massachusetts, state officials estimate about 97 percent of the population is covered. And the study said that since the law was implemented, at least 442,000 people have already uninsured enrolled in private or state-subsidized plans.

"It does future global surveillance since May change things," said Seifert. "But so far, so good."