HUFFINGTON
08.19.12
PROGNOSIS UNCLEAR
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE ACTUARY AT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES
HEALTHCARE SPENDING
Club by the journal Health Affairs
Healtholder,
Care Spending
last month. If they don’t,
As a percentage of the gross domestic product, the
sicker people will pay more.
The cost of health care in theoverall
United States
on the
rise for
decades.
As a percentage
costhasofbeen
health
care
inover
thefive
United
States
has of
There’s no guarantee
people
the gross
domestic product, the overall cost has increased by more than three times what it was in 1960.
increased by more than three times over the last
will go along with the plan. Some
five
decades.
20%
healthy people who buy their
own health insurance today may
17.9%
see their premiums increase because the law mandates certain
15%
Percentage of GDP, 1960-2010
services be covered and doesn’t
permit insurance companies to
deny policies to sick people with
higher medical expenses. And
10%
that will increase costs for everyone in the insurance pool.
Their coverage may be more
5%
comprehensive and more secure
5.2%
but a bigger price tag could turn
them off.
And the penalty for not get0
ting health insurance in 2014 is
’60
’70
’80
’90
’00
’10
just $95, or 1 percent of income,
whichever is higher. The penalty
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
THE HUFFINGTON POST
gradually escalates until it reaches
$695, or 2.5 percent of income,
in 2016 but that’s still lower than
Huffington. “Maybe it’s better to
the cost of health insurance.
be the market-share winner in the
Health insurance companies
second year when you know who
may be cautious about entering
you’re insuring.”
these markets until they have a
better idea about who their cusWILL BUYING HEALTH INSURANCE
EXCHANGES BE EASIER?
tomers will be, Sheryl Skolnick,
an equities analyst for CRT CapiWhoever winds up being those
tal Group in Stamford, Conn., told
insurance companies’ customers will buy their products on the
regulated exchange marketplaces
that go live in October 2013,
TIM WALLACE/THE HUFFINGTON POST