The Costs of Health Care, It's Too High?

Well, folks, part four in this series.  If you haven't been keeping up then I'd suggest you read my previous three posts on this issue first.

People are always complaining about the costs of health care. Yet, as I have said previously the costs that they cite are always the costs of the insurance not the costs of the care itself. From the few articles that I have read maybe it is time to take a second look at how we address the issue of health care costs on a personal basis. Maybe it is time that we get out of this mindset of the need of health care insurance.


What do I mean by this? Well let’s take a gander at it from strictly a health care problem. Let’s take a look at the actual costs of health care for a typical family. Let’s create a scenario that I believe is considered an average for a family and do it with exaggerations.

1. We have a family of four and that each member of that family sees a doctor twice a year. Each doctor visit will cost $100.
2. Let’s continue to exaggerate by saying that each member will be tested for some reason. Those tests will cost $500 a piece.
3. Let’s add in medicine needed from each visit and say that it will cost $100 for each member.
4. Let’s also say that the family has insurance through their place of employment.

Now, what do we have? If we were to add all of these costs up it will come out to a total of $5600 a year which, without insurance, would have to come out of your own pocket each year. With insurance that requires a 20% co-pay, the amount that would come out of your pocket would be just $1150 and the insurance company carries the rest.

Now, since this is the beginning of a new year each of you can ascertain for yourself what were the actual costs of health care for your family last year. I think, though, that each of you will say and agree that I have probably exaggerated the actual average cost in my scenario. And for the very few I might have underestimated it.

But wait!!!! I am not finished yet. You need to remember that premiums were paid into that insurance company. That also has to be added into the total if we are to ascertain the real costs of health care we receive each year. Now we are getting to the bottom of the actual costs of health care and to the reason we consider health care costs so high.

According to the Memphis Business Journal health care premiums cost are $13, 375 a year per employee. It also states that employees are responsible for $3515 and your employer is paying the rest of it. In other words, the insurance company is paying out an average of $4450 for every $13,375 that they take in if my scenario could be taken as an average.

But, more important is the fact that we, the employee, are actually paying out $4665 a year for health care and not just the $1150 that we think we are paying. Now, I grant you that is still $935 less then if we had to pay that expense out of our pocket with no health insurance but there is more. Also remember that I exaggerated the cost of actual average cost of medical care in my scenario. And for you, the actual cost of health care last year would probably be greater with insurance than without insurance.

We need to take into consideration the amount of our own personal taxes that we pay into the county and state coffers as well as the federal coffers that is targeted for medical care costs that each of them spend, such as Medicaid and Medicare. That is another 4 or 5% of your annual income just for medical care. So, you look into the mirror and tell yourself just how much you actually pay so that someone else can pay your medical bills instead of accepting the rightful responsibility of your own bills.



I don’t care if you are a democrat, republican, liberal or conservative, your family needs take priority. They come first in my book before you consider any of my needs as you see them. But, if Congress writes a bill of mandate in regards to the medical care issue they are saying that my needs has a priority over the needs of your families and that is wrong in my book.



These are but the thoughts of a fool, as some would declare. It is your choice. You can support a mandate making my needs a priority over those of your family or you can stand at my side as we declare to the government that your family’s needs should take priority.