The health care field is facing a multitude of unprecedented changes as California prepares to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The impending changes make
Insured Californians usually see the bill for their monthly healthcare premium or the amount deducted from their paycheck to pay for medical insurance. However, they rarely see the $6,500 bill for just the cost of the hospital room where they stayed, or the $2,500 for the colonoscopy or even the $150 a month for their allergy medication.
Yet, these are the numbers that really matter in determining the price for medical insurance premiums because the costs of health care – the hospital, doctors, prescription drugs and other medical bills – on average make up 87 percent of the premium price. And those costs are rising faster than inflation.
For instance, the price of a colonoscopy – a test physicians say we should have after age 50 – has tripled in price in the last three years. The average price of hospital care in California increased nearly 40 percent in five years. And national spending on prescription drugs has more than doubled in the past decade.