PC THE TOWN

Americans are living longer now than ever before in our history. The average life expectancy is now about 78 years based on the most recent information available from the National Center on Health Statistics. A number of factors has caused this increase to happen. Over the past 100 years, the increase has been a net gain of 30 years for the average person in the U.S. and continues to get better over time. Some reasons contributing to this advancement in aging have been due to improvements in sanitation and nutrition, and there have been improvements in medicine, health care, economics, and lifestyle. However, in the past few years we have seen a proliferation of health care cases that are a direct result of unhealthy habits in eating choices and lifestyle issues. Obesity and other medical problems in Americans are now more frequent due to poor choices in diet and lack of physical exercise. Often there are cultural, economic, or demographic reasons for these poor choices. Typically, l...

Most Americans get their insurance through their employer. As a result, health insurance is available to the vast almost every household. There are currently over 250 million insured in the U.S. according to numerous organizations that track statistics of uninsured versus insured. Since 2000, the cost of insurance has risen faster than wages and the cost of insurance has increasingly been shifted to the employer. The current expectation is that the cost of insurance will continue to increase over time at about 6% to 8% according to MedicalNewsToday.com this month. These rates are not as bad as the double digit increases seen five years ago, but are still twice the rate of inflation. Employees are getting more nervous as employers continue to cut benefits and increase premiums. Cost shifting has become more the norm as insurance companies seek ways to recoup more profits and pass those costs on to employers. Small businesses are having more and more difficulty maintaining benefits for e...

Saving money when we make a purchase is as American as the Fourth of July. We just like to know that when we have bought a new car or a new suit that we got a real deal. No one wants to spend more than they should have when a better price is available. Of course, the same should apply to health care. We want to know that we are getting a good deal when it comes to saving money when we see the doctor or go to the pharmacy. Who wants to pay an outrageous medical bill when the same quality of care is available somewhere else at a better price? No wonder Wal-Mart, Target, and other retailers have found gold in offering $4 generics. A September 27, 2007 article on CNNMoney.com quoted the Wal-Mart CFO giving a statistic of $613 million in savings over the prior 12 months for their pharmacy customers. This is huge! You would think that the price would be a loss leader, but Wal-Mart claims to be making money even at $4 per perscription. Good for them, and great for the American consumer! Whil...

According to the most recent U.S. Census update released in August, 2007, there are about 47 million uninsured Americans. From all apparent resources available who keep these statistics, this number has continued to grow each year. A variety of reasons exist that have caused this figure to increase over time, and currently there are efforts to help control the numbers of uninsured on both a state level in certain key areas and on a national level. Even some municipalities like San Francisco have jumped into the arena to try to draw down the number of uninsured in that city. Aetna reports that the impact of the uninsured on society is enormous. The cost of care, when accessed, is shifted to the government, medical professionals, and the insured population in the form of increased annual insurance premiums. The Institute of Medicine attributes over 18,000 deaths per year to a lack of coverage. And 42% of the uninsured have no usual source of care—they miss out on preventive screenings a...

Welcome to "Your Best Health Care" Blog. Over the past 9 years, I have been involved in health insurance and the health care industry. I have watched the cost of insurance and health spiral upward to the point of ridiculously high rates and cost of care. As a result of increased costs in the U.S., health care is an issue that has come to the front of the political parade over the past couple of years, and is a major concern for most Americans, especially the Average Joe. USA Today reported in 2005 from several sources that the cost of health care is going up much faster than wages, and medical costs affect our lifestyle. Contrary to public opinion, health care in the United States is not a right. It is a privilege. Most working age Americans pay for their health care via employee based health insurance plans. Often, those who are self-employed purchase insurance directly from an agent who represents an insurance company and pays a hefty price for the premium, especially if t...

The Average Josephine in the America feels that health care is an automatically inherent right to be awarded simply because she lives in the United States. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary gives us the definition of what inherent means--"involved in the constitution or essential character of something : belonging by nature or habit." However, as much as health care has become the current political football this year in the race for the Presidency in 2008, we must realize that free or universal health care is not free. Someone has to pay for it, and the American taxpayer is the one on the hook to pay the bill. As I mentioned in the previous blog, health care is a privilege, not a right. Many people feel that they deserve to have some form of health care and not have to pay for it, or perhaps are entitled to health care at a radically reduced rate (if not free)--paid for by the government, such as Medicaid. One of the reasons that health care has become so outrageously e...