Oct. 4 - Blog

This week I read an article called “Why Business Fears the Public Option” by Jane Sasseen and Catherine Arnst in BusinessWeek. This article discusses how executives believe that health-care providers will begin to charge patients higher rates in private plans. Many executives believe that the United States of America government has not funded enough money for health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. They believe that this is the reason for hospitals to increase rates for private plans which many American patients with private insurance are paying for. The hospitals charge these patients to make up for the losses they experience otherwise. Some companies are even warning that they are willing to follow a public insurance option that would do away with private insurers and lead to a nationalized U.S. health care system. Many economists still hold the belief that businesses are still overstating what they believe the level of cost shifting to be. Others highly believe that hospitals and other similar providers are not engaged in cost shifting nearly as much as they are engaged in price discrimination. However, hospitals with the most market power will continue to charge private insurers large amounts of money.