Time (November 10 Issue)
“Ballooning health care costs are driving up the price of insurance for the 154 million Americans who rely on employer-sponsored coverage,” where an average increase of 6.5% is expected in 2026, “the highest increase since 2010.” Things are even worse for those who do not have employer-sponsored coverage. Those covered by Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans are likely to see their premiums “rise by an average of 75% in 2026.”
Tags: 2010, 2026, ACA, Ballooning, Costs, Coverage, Employer-sponsored, Health care, Insurance, Plans, Premiums, Price, U.S.
Wired (August 30)
“A major driver of Antarctica’s cascading crises is the loss of floating sea ice, which forms during winter.” Since 2014, “the coverage of sea ice has fallen not just precipitously, but almost unbelievably, contracting by 75 miles closer to the coast.” Over the past decade, winter sea ice “has declined 4.4 times faster around Antarctica than it has in the Arctic…. Put another way: The loss of winter sea ice in Antarctica over just the past decade is similar to what the Arctic has lost over the last 46 years.”
Tags: 2014, 46 years, 75 miles, Antarctica, Arctic, Cascading, Coast, Contracting, Coverage, Crises, Decade, Driver, Loss, Precipitously, Sea ice, Winter
Time (February 10)
Losses, estimated at $52 to $57 billion, from the LA fires are accelerating “an uninsurable future.” Many affected homeowners had already been dropped by private insurers because distorted risks from climate change made the policies unviable. Many were essentially “forced to obtain coverage from the state’s insurer of last resort, the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (CA FAIR) Plan,” but that plan’s exposure far outstrips its assets, placing all of the state’s insurance policyholders on the hook for additional levies. This situation is not unique to California and action is required. “What won’t work, experts say, is continuing with the same system and hoping that climate risk just goes away.”
Tags: $57 billion, CA FAIR, California, Climate, Climate change, Coverage, Homeowners, LA fires, Last resort, Levies, Losses, Private insurers, Risks, Uninsurable future
Council on Foreign Relations (August 25)
“American homeowners already coping with extreme weather now face a new risk: disappearing property insurance. Private companies have increasingly reduced coverage, concluding that the risks—and potential losses—threatened by climate change outweigh probable profits. As of now, this primarily affects a handful of coastal U.S. states, including California. In other states, insurers have substantially increased the price of property insurance.”
Tags: California, Climate change, Coastal, Coverage, Extreme weather, Homeowners, Potential losses, Private companies, Profits, Property insurance, Risks, U.S.
New York Times (February 5, 2014)
Recent estimates credit the Affordable Care Act with unchaining 2.5 million people from their jobs over the ensuing decade. “The new law will free people, young and old, to pursue careers or retirement without having to worry about health coverage. Workers can seek positions they are most qualified for and will no longer need to feel locked into a job they don’t like because they need insurance for themselves or their families.”
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Careers, Coverage, Families, Health, Insurance, Jobs, Positions, Qualified, Retirement, Workers
