Premium Review Forum

As doctors, we’ve seen personally how the rising costs of health care can place even greater strain on individuals, families and employers.

Year after year the cost of care goes up, leading some patients to neglect the treatments or care they need simply because they cannot afford it.

Employers often face the difficult reality of maintaining coverage for their employees or cutting back their payrolls. Taxpayers, at the state and federal levels, are forced to pay more to fund government health care programs intended to serve those in need.

The New York Daily News reports that one health insurance company is now charging $3,319 each month for an individual premium. Another insurer is charging $8,463 each month for a family plan. Meanwhile, of the 13 HMOs serving New York City in 2004, just seven remain, and the number of people purchasing their own insurance has dropped from roughly 100,000 ten years ago to 13,335. The state’s health insurance market, according to insurers and state officials, has fallen into an “adverse selection death spiral”: rising premiums push out younger and healthier customers at the margins, which leads to a smaller, more expensive insurance pool, which pushes out even more of the young and healthy customers and so on and so forth.