Faber Healthcare Solutions

Health costs rose around 10% in the past year for smaller businesses, and coupled with increasing costs for transportation, energy and supplies, they have been cutting back on health coverage for employees.

A survey conducted by the NJ Business & Industry Association found:

- While 4 years ago 92% of the smallest companies provided coverage, today only 77% do.

- 76% of the companies who dropped health coverage said that they did so because of costs.

- 52% of the companies who do provide coverage require employees to pay part of the premiums.

Premiums are expected to rise about 10% this year again. If it were because health costs went up, and health plans made only a modest profit, this would be a difficult but understandable reality. But as the AMA reports, the health plans are making a big buck at our expense (and force physicians to spend money fighting claims unnecessarily), and would rather lose members than lose profits.

What will next year hold?

On April 8th of this year, I wrote “Prepare to apologize. Lawyers cringe at this advice, but doctors who admit their errors, particularly the little ones, and treat the patient with respect and apologize, tend to get sued less frequently. Some organizations, such as the VA, have adopted this guideline as policy, and the number of suits has fallen since its implementation.”

It looks like the New York Times agrees. I recommend this article as a good read.