Health insurance: the hidden cost of High Country living (Denver: homes, to buy)

[Wheatridger]

Living around Denver for most of my life, I though t I knew it all. But still I was surprised at the news, courtesy of the Denver Post, that the mountain towns from Summit County to Glenwood Springs are among the most expensive places in the country to buy health insurance. As Johnny Carson used to say, deadpan, "I did not know that."

Said the Post, "Two years ago, a national study found that the Colorado resort region ... was the most expensive place to buy health care in the US." Costs dropped a bit after that, but last year saw a 25% drop in average annual premiums. The story gave the example of a man who pays $1590 a month up there for a policy that would charge him $875 if he lived in Denver.

This isn't a rant for or against Obamacare, or mountain living, just something to be aware of. It's not intuitive that insurance costs should vary so much locally. Canadians and Europeans should find it especially curious that in these "free" and "united" states, health care costs vary as much as property taxes and home values. It's too bad that the part-time residents who own multiple homes can avoid this hidden tax by signing up at a distant out-of-state address, before they come here and wreck a knee.

It's never been easy to live in the High Country, and it still isn't. But it used to be cheaper.

[rya700]

This is a problem in Wyoming as well. One of our two "obamacare" providers, Wincare, recently announced they are going out of business. I wish I had time to access the article but there was one recently circulating about how obamacare has completely failed in wyoming. Having worked as a RN in a rural area however, I can attest to how inefficient and in turn expensive, rural healthcare is.

I would rather see people treated by a doctor/facility that performs a procedure 20x a day rather than 20x a year, which is often the case in rural hospitals and with rural doctors - although summit county would probably be an exception. Another concern is, in the rural facilities i have seen, is that they have very antiquated equipment and procedures. The "management" tends to be people that have been in the area all their lives and have no idea anything better even exists. Their attitude is "this is how it has been done for the past 30 years, why would we change?" Amongst the nurses and other "direct care" staff, morale tends to be low.