Rising Health Care Costs a Growing Concern
Double digit increases in health care costs have rekindled the debate on Capitol Hill. According to a survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, “health plan costs for 2002 are projected to rise even faster than they have in the past two years. Employers’ health plan costs for active employees will rise by 13.6 percent, compared with trends of 8.1 percent and 12.2 percent for 2000 and 2001, respectively. Cost increases for post-65 retirees are also expected to accelerate, up from a rate of 9.6 percent for 2000 to a rate of
15.1 percent for 2002.”
Rising health care costs, along with higher unemployment, have increased the ranks of the uninsured to roughly 39 million Americans. On June 18, Senator Edward Kennedy, a long-time advocate of affordable health care for all Americans introduced legislation to expand coverage to the uninsured and reduce health care costs, and will introduce further legislation before the end of the year to provide for universal coverage.
Union Plus Legal Services offers immigration legal services to union members. This union members-only benefit features attorneys in selected areas that specialize in immigration law, and offers free initial consultations and discounts of 30 percent off their regular hourly rates and flat fees. The service is affordable and confidential. There are no enrollment forms or fees. Union members are automatically enrolled and are entitled to:
• A free initial consultation of up to 30 minutes (in person or over the phone),
• A free review of select documents and a free follow-up letter or phone call.
• Most additional services are discounted by 30 percent (a member may consult with a lawyer as many times as necessary, provided each consultation is about a separate matter).
To take advantage of this service, log on to www.unionplus.org/beneifts/legal/
immigration.cfm for more information in Spanish and English. |
|
|
In announcing his proposals, Kennedy noted that “we cannot afford to neglect the health care crisis that affects many millions of our fellow citizens.” He noted that today 39 million Americans lack health insurance and this number could rise to 52 million by the end of the decade if we don’t act now. “We must act on three major fronts — to reduce the shameful plight of the uninsured, to bring health costs down, and to enact a long overdue prescription drug benefit in Medicare,” said Kennedy.
BAC members and their families are not immune to the strain brought on by rising health care costs. “Funds are doing their best to balance the competing demands of government’s records management requirements, with rising health care costs and the needs of plan
participants,” said Anne Codd, Executive Director of the International Health Fund (IHF). IHF, for example, is partnering with United Healthcare to take advantage of their vast network and economies of scale. Through this partnership, IHF has been able to contain costs, without compromising participants’ benefits.
“But we’re hearing more and more about the pressure being put on our health and welfare funds to increase contributions to maintain benefits,” said Codd. In fact, in a survey conducted last year of BAC Health & Welfare Fund trustees and fund professionals, 44 percent of those surveyed cited the skyrocketing cost of health insurance as the single biggest obstacle to improving health benefits for participants.
|