Word: out-of-pocket
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Currently, assisted living is not covered by most states and is paid out-of-pocket by individuals. Grabowski said the system “accentuates a two-tiered elderly health care,” in which people from lower income communities live in Medicaid-financed nursing homes, while those who can afford the costs choose assisted living—the favored type of care...
Companies have long promoted healthier behavior by subsidizing gym memberships and smoking-cessation classes. But several private and public employers have started tying financial incentives to their health-insurance plans. North Carolina this year became the second state to approve an increase in out-of-pocket expenses for state workers who smoke and don't try to quit or who are morbidly obese and don't try to lose weight. Alabama was the first to pass what critics call a fat fee, in 2008, and several state insurance plans have started imposing a $25 monthly surcharge on smokers...
...jacking up people's co-pays. The Tar Heel State in particular has been criticized for using a big-stick approach. Starting in July, state workers who smoke will be moved from the plan that covers 80% of health care costs to one that pays 70%, an out-of-pocket difference of approximately $480 a year, unless they agree to enroll in a smoking-cessation program...
...somewhere between $30 billion and $35 billion per year. If the bill isn't properly funded - if working-class families don't receive large enough tax credits to help pay for their newly mandated health insurance, if they're forced to pay thousands of dollars in new out-of-pocket expenses - Republicans will use "socialized" health care as a bludgeon against Democrats in 2010 and 2012. There is much talk in Washington these days about the debacle of Medicare catastrophic care, which charged senior citizens for additional services many were already paying for. It was passed in 1988, but rescinded...
...employers have had to restructure their plans since the economy started tanking in September 2008, look to be even more daunting than usual. Surveys indicate that in 2010, 40% of employers will shift more premium costs onto employees and 39% will increase deductibles, co-payments, co-insurance or out-of-pocket maximums. More employers are steering workers toward catastrophic health policies with deductibles as high as $5,000 or $10,000. (See 10 players in health-care reform...