Health Insurance Costs

Archive Report

Medical Costs and Health Insurance

Rising Costs as Threat to Voluntary Plans

The rising cost of medical care is pushing up health insurance premiums and putting the voluntary prepayment system to its severest test since initiation of Blue Cross hospitalization plans a quarter-century ago. Hospital operating expenses have been soaring, doctors' fees have been mounting, and medical science has been developing a constantly expanding array of expensive drugs and costly diagnostic and treatment procedures. Caught in the middle, voluntary health insurance appears to be confronted with two undesirable alternatives: Either it must cut back its policy benefits in the face of a demand for more benefits, or it must raise its premiums and run the risk of pricing itself out of the market.

With three-fourths of the ...

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