Health Insurance Washington State  

The growth of health care costs has been the driving force for the creation of new formations of managed care health insurance plans.  In order to understand how managed care plans seek to control costs, it is important to understand why costs have increased and why traditional or indemnity fee for service plans have not provided a sufficient solution to keep costs in check.  Some commonly agreed reasons for this include:

1.  Factors of health care costs continue to rise.  Factors include medical supplies, labor costs such as , administrative servicies, patient care, facility costs, medical equipment and prescription medications.  Also part of the inflation of health care costs include the rapid increase in malpractice insurance premiums.  Governments do not adequately compensate hospitals for the services rendered to not only the indigent populations  (which in most cases, hospitals must service those who cannot afford to pay anything yet are showing up in the emergency rooms).   Government  programs such as Medicare and Medicaid also mandate stiff discounts and do not pay their full share of costs.   Therefore there is a significant amount of cost shifting onto the private sector to compensate for these indadequate payments. 

2.  New technology.  In Washington state, as in the entire United States,  patients demand the best and latest technology in all facts of life and health care is no different. Patients demand the best technology that will lead to the best outcomes for their health care. they want the latest  knowledge in terms of treatment and post recovery.   Pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year advertising the latest brand name drugs that can supposely help consumers better than anything that has come before and certainly the cost-effective older generic drugs.  We are a consumer driven society and are used to having the best and latest in everything else from our cars, to our entertainment media such as hdtv technology to even our cell phones.    Healthcare is no different.  Therefore  Health Insurance in Washington State is required to cover cutting edge advancements and this is one of the major drivers of increased costs.

3.  Intensive societal problems leading to increased utilization of healthcare services.  Treatment for diseases including obesity, diabetes, AIDS, chemical abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, the breakdown of the nuclear family and related mental health issues are all taxing the  medical care system  with increased use and therefore increasing the overall costs that society pays for health care.  In Washington State, it is no different.  Washingtonians are utilizing increased services and paying for it thru higher premiums from such insurance companies as Premera Blue Cross, Regence Blue Shield, Lifewise, Aetna and all the rest. 

4.  Demographics in Washington State as it is in the USA as a whole is changing. America is graying  with the number of those over age 65 expected to double by the year 2030.   We are also living longer  and the median age in America is increasing.   Increased ages  leads to increased medical care and its associated costs.