Healthcare Costs

Re “ Move traps a patient in rate hike ,” Column, Nov. 13 Another fine David Lazarus column showing corporate emperors with no clothes, and apparently no shame. Wonder how the “premium risk” zones are laid out? I would bet that they use ZIP Codes. Health insurance providers should have a website feature where customers could enter potential new ZIP Codes before buying or moving to see exactly how much their monthly premium might rise or fall. Jim Smith Palos Verdes Estates We have also discovered the unfairness of pricing for health insurance.

Warning that Los Angeles is facing insolvency, mayoral candidate and City Councilwoman Jan Perry outlined her plan Thursday for reforming the city's employee pension and benefits system. "The truth is that we cannot afford to continue to pay our city workforce in its current configuration," Perry said in an address billed as her first major campaign policy speech. Perry stopped short of opposing a controversial plan by former Mayor Richard Riordan to dramatically cut retirement costs by shifting employees to 401(k)

So, Barack Obama, you've been granted a second term. What do you do for an encore? It has become commonplace to observe that presidential second terms are fraught with disappointment. George W. Bush's was marred by a bogged-down war in Iraq and the collapse of the financial system; Bill Clinton's by the Monica Lewinsky scandal; Ronald Reagan's by the Iran-Contra scandal (but moderated by the end of the Cold War). Franklin Roosevelt squandered the promise of his second term by picking a fight with the Supreme Court, an effort that ultimately undermined his ability to fulfill all the promise of the New Deal.

Re "Healthcare's crucial test," Oct. 28 I am a physician at a federally funded nonprofit community clinic, and I am glad that someone is finally providing evidence of what our clinics do to ensure the overall health of our country. Your article accurately summed up the last 13 years of my work there. Oftentimes I wonder if I'm crazy for still being there, but I believe in our mission to deliver comprehensive, high-quality care to the underserved. It is too bad that our country has struggled to understand that this model, a component of Obamacare, is necessary to reduce overall healthcare costs.

WASHINGTON -- As the presidential race has tightened over the last month, President Obama has seen his advantage over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on healthcare issues erode substantially, according to a new poll from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation .   More likely voters still trust Obama to do a better job than his Republican challenger in handling the Medicare and Medicaid programs, lowering healthcare costs and determining...

Don't look to small businesses for a vote of confidence in the economy. Pessimistic owners are scaling back hiring plans, rethinking expansion and fretting over weak sales as they wait for stability. An optimism index from the National Federation of Independent Business slipped slightly to 92.8 in September from an August reading of 92.9. Hiring plans plunged as fewer owners hired and more slashed head counts. Job creation in September lagged the previous two months. Capital outlays over the last six months slipped, with fewer owners reporting spending on new equipment, vehicles and property.

Concerned about the dangers of consistently climbing obesity rates, Los Angeles County officials launched a new public health campaign Thursday to help residents control their portion sizes. The campaign - Choose Less, Weigh Less - aims to raise awareness about recommended calorie limits and to get residents to consume fewer calories. "It is no secret that portion size, as well as our waistlines, have expanded over the last two decades," Jonathan Fielding, director of the county Department of Public Health, said during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles.

President Obama reiterated a claim that his healthcare law will reduce costs, a promise he made when he started pushing for an overhaul as a candidate four years ago. Then, Obama said he would cut family health insurance premiums by $2,500 by the end of his first term. Today, this stands as one of the president's biggest unfulfilled promises. In fact, the average employee share of an employer-provided health plan jumped from $3,515 in 2009 to $4,316 in 2012, an increase of more than 22%, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.

Sears Holdings Corp., in an effort to control its healthcare costs, has joined a private insurance exchange and will provide employees with a fixed allowance to buy insurance. The retailer, which has more than 90,000 workers eligible for coverage, becomes one of the largest U.S. employers to move away from traditional defined benefit health plans in favor of an approach that effectively shifts the choice of health insurance from companies to workers. Sears said it was optimistic that more choice and competition would drive down healthcare costs.

If you think America is fat now, just wait 20 years. So says a state-by-state projection of the nation's future obesity rates that has arrived at some terrifying results: By 2030, every state in the nation may well have obesity rates above 44%, with most having rates above 50%. The report, produced by two nonprofit public health advocacy groups, projects that Mississippi will continue to lead the nation, with a whopping 66% of its population projected...