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There are several factors which lead to increased costs. First, the government (both federal and state) meddle in the matter--refusing, for example, to allow policies to be offered across all 50 states. Secondly, there are now just a handful of large insurers and they routinely violate contract law and antitrust law. By violating antitrust law, the drive up costs in the markets they control and reap larger profits than they should. That is compounded by their not paying legitimate claims as well: Linda Peeno, MD testified that SHE had often denied treatment JUST to save the insurance company money (http://www.thenationalcoalition.org/DrPeenotestimony.html) Furthermore: "the vast majority of health insurance policies are through for-profit stock companies. They are in the process of "shedding lives" as some term it when "undesirable" customers are lost through various means, including raising premiums and co-pays and decreasing benefits (Britt, "Health insurers getting bigger cut of medical dollars," 15 October 2004, investors.com). That same Investors Business Daily article from 2004 noted the example of Anthem, another insurance company. They said the top five executives (not just the CEO) received an average of an 817 percent increase in compensation between 2000 and 2003. The CEO, for example, had his compensation go from $2.5 million to $25 million during that time period. About $21 million of that was in stock payouts, the article noted. A 2006 article, "U.S. Health Insurance: More Market Domination, More CEO Compensation" (hcrenewal.blogspot.com) notes that in 56 percent of 294 metropolitan areas one insurer "controls more than half the business in health maintenance organization and preferred provider networks underwriting." In addition to having the most enrollees, they also are the biggest purchasers of health care and set the price and coverage terms. "'The results is double-digit premium increases from 2001 and 2004-peaking with a 13.9 percent jump in 2003-soaring well above inflation and wages increases.'" Where is all that money going? The article quotes a Wall Street Journal article looking at the compensation of the CEO of UnitedHealth Group. His salary and bonus is $8 million annually. He has benefits such as the use of a private jet. He has stock-option fortunes worth $1.6 billion." --Save America, Save the World by Cassandra Nathan pp. 127-128 There is also the fact that of the folks who declare bankruptcy, more than half are over medical bills and 75% of those folks have insurance--so it is clear that insurance is not meeting its responsibilities because the actual purpose of it is not to pay for the "sniffles," but to be there for serious illness which can bankrupt a person. "Aldrich's situation is "asinine" but increasingly common, said Dr. Deborah Thorne of Ohio University. Thorne, co-author of a widely quoted 2005 study that found medical bills contributed to nearly half of the 1.5 million personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year, said that ratio has likely worsened since the data was gathered. ... Like Aldrich, Thorne said, three-quarters of the individuals in the study who declared bankruptcy because of health problems were insured." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201807/

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Q: What causes the increasing cost of health care?
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