Rising Health Care Costs Essays

Rising Health Care Costs Essays Rising Health Care Costs Paper Rising Health Care Costs Paper One of the biggest problems small employers face today is the steadily rising costs of health coverage for its employees. This paper covers how health care premiums have risen in double digits for the past five consecutive years, how many small businesses are forced to drop health care coverage for their employees because of the out of control costs, and what small businesses are doing to control the costs and still offer health care coverage to their employees. The good news is that small businesses have been doing better than the overall economy. During the past few years, they have overcome rough times and developed a resiliency that is serving them well. The bad news is that the rising cost of health insurance is one issue that they may not overcome. In 2005, employees health insurance premiums climbed a bit less in than in recent years, but continually rising costs have prompted many small businesses to drop health benefits altogether. In 2005, health care premiums raised an average of 9.2 percent, falling from the 11. 2 percent increase in 2004 and ending four straight years of double-digit escalation. While the earnings of a minimum-wage worker in Minnesota is at $12,792 per year, the average cost of health coverage for family coverage is $10,880, with employees paying $2713. 00 of that. Premiums are 73 percent higher than they were five years ago . Also troubling is the drop in employers who offer health insurance driven almost entirely by small companies that have given up coverage. Today, sixty percent of employers offer health insurance to employees, down from sixty nine percent in 2000. Most of the employers are small businesses that are forced to drop coverage because it is unreasonably affordable. Growth in health insurance costs outpaced inflation and wage growth. Between 2003 and 2004, premiums increased an average an average of 11. 2 percent, significantly faster than other economic indicators: inflation rose 2. 3 percent and wages rose 2. 2 percent. There are many reasons small businesses are finding it difficult to provide coverage to their employees, with cost the most significant one. The small businesses characteristics, including whether a small firm is a component of a larger business, the composition of its workforce, and the industry of which it is a part, are the most important factors in determining an employers ability to acquire affordable health coverage for its employees. Despite the high cost of premiums and the cost of  administering the benefit, small employers state many important business reasons for offering health insurance coverage to its employees. Most say they provide health benefits because it helps with employee recruitment, increases employee loyalty, and decreases turnover. They also note that these benefits positively affect employee attitude, performance, and health. The most important reason for offering health insurance coverage, small employers say, is that it is the right thing to do. The most significant reason for a small business employers decision not to offer health benefits however is the skyrocketing costs. So what can a small business employer do to maintain its health care coverage for its employees? Possibilities are reducing benefits, shifting more of the cost of the premiums to its employees, requiring employees to pay high co-payments when they visit a doctor, switching from a PPO to a HMO, and covering only employees rather than including family members. Higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses may be another option to ease the burden on the employer. To offset the cost increases of prescription drug coverage, employees can also ask employees to pay larger co-payments at the pharmacy. Another option may be to implement a health savings account, where the employer contributes a preset amount to an employees health resources (personal account.) The money put into the plan can be used against out-of-pocket medical expenses, and employees can roll over the money in an account from year to year when their costs are less than the amount set aside. Finally, flexible spending accounts allow employees to pay for part of their co-payments and other non-reimbursed medical expenses with pretax dollars. After all is said and done, there remains a very strong incentive for small businesses to provide affordable employee health care insurance. Their ability to hire and retain talented employees, as well as the mental and physical well being of current employees. Roughly 9% of small businesses have stopped providing benefits altogether as a way to manage health care costs. Until a cap is put on the steadily rising health care costs, employees will have to share more of the burden of their health insurance costs. This is not an attractive solution, but one that for now, can act as a temporary fix and allow Americas small businesses to continue to fuel our economy.

Legalizing Torture to Collect Information essays

Legalizing Torture to Collect Information essays The issue of torture is a rising and very debatable topic in the government and the American publics eyes. The authors Jonathan Alter and Henry Porter have different takes on the topic of how torture should be legal or why torture is against the law today in the articles: Time To Think About Torture, posted in Newsweek Magazine and Now The Talk is About Bringing Back Torture, posted in The Guardian. In comparing and contrasting these two articles in which the first focused solely on how torture could be useful and helpful for the government, and the second article focuses on the effects of the medias support of torture, also the negative effects of torture. The meaning of torture is an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person within their custody or physical control. There are laws in the U.S. against torture, the law states Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned no more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisonment for life (1). In 2005 Senator John McCain who himself was a prisoner of war in Vietnam proposed an amendment that would outlaw the process of torture for U.S. held detainees. The vote passed ninety to one but faced veto by the White House over objections that the bill might hinder the CIAs ability to gather intel from detainees. In October 2006 the U.S. enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006, authorizing the executive to conduct military tribunals of so-called enemy combatants and to detain them under the terms of habeas corpus. Both authors refer to torture that pertains the government. Alter states that one sign of how much things have changed is ...

Rising gas prices Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rising gas prices - Research Paper Example ed April 19, 2012 entitled â€Å"More Gas Price Cuts Likely Soon†, gas prices appear to have peaked and are likely to head lower in the coming weeks, supported by gasoline futures dropping four days in a arrow and a slight decline in pump prices in the past couple of weeks. Overall, the increase in gas prices may decrease consumer spending and gross domestic production but through technology, we may revert to substitutes that lessen our gas consumption. The effect of gas prices, from fundamental microeconomic analysis follows assumptions on the demand for gas, both in the short run and in the long run. One of the assumptions about the demand for gas is that it may be price elastic in the long run but may be very inelastic in the short run, as people take time to for change their consumption habits (Pindyck and Rubinfeld 2005). When gas prices increase, in the short run, quantity demanded will fall only gradually as motorists and drivers may begin to use their vehicles less. In addition to this, the demand for gas is very much linked to the usage of cars and transportation, and it is not so easy to simply change from driving your car to work to using a bicycle. This is not to mention that almost all transport vehicles including trains and ships use some form of petroleum and gas, hence either the producer of a good or service or the customer will most likely take in the increase of gas prices. In essence, this leads to either lower production to reduce costs of firms, or lower consumer spending, to save up money for gas (Pindyck and Rubinfeld 2005). While in the short run, an increase in the price of gasoline has only a small effect in the quantity of gasoline demanded, in the long run, various changes in the transportation may lead to less demand for gas, thus making its demand elastic. Technology in general may shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, thus consumer spending comes back to its natural level. Historically, this assumption has been supported by the