Monthly health insurance bills keep going up, and New Hampshire families want to know why.
When gas prices rise over the summer, people can try to drive less and wait for prices to eventually come back down. When groceries get too expensive, they can buy store brands. But when health insurance premiums go up, families have very limited options and are usually given no explanation for the sudden increase.
The same lack of transparency follows patients into the doctor’s office. After examining a patient, a physician decides what treatment is needed and writes a prescription. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, that patient’s insurance company can deny the treatment, delay it or require that something cheaper be tried first. Patients end up caught between their doctor and their insurer, and, too often, the treatment their doctor recommended is put on hold.
Granite Staters are tired of it, and recent survey data proves it. In September, the University of New Hampshire Survey Center surveyed 1,542 New Hampshire residents for the PBM Accountability Project of New Hampshire as part of its Granite State Poll, and the results were about as one-sided as public opinion gets.
Ninety percent of Granite Staters agree that when it comes to choosing the best treatment for a patient, health insurance companies have too much power over what providers can prescribe. Ninety-two percent agree that insurance companies put their profits ahead of patients, creating barriers that can delay or restrict access to treatments prescribed by health care providers. Only 2% disagree.
This frustration is shared across party lines. Eighty-three percent of Republicans and 97% of Democrats say insurers have too much power over what doctors can prescribe. In a state where we disagree about a great many things, this is one issue where most of us are on the same page.
Granite Staters also have a clear idea of who should act. Eighty-eight percent agree that Congress should do more to enact important health insurance reforms to bring down the cost of healthcare, including 78% of Republicans.
New Hampshire voters want leaders who are willing to take on powerful interests. When it comes to healthcare costs, that means standing up to the insurance companies.
That is why we are asking our congressional delegation, and every candidate running for higher office in New Hampshire this fall, to tell voters where they stand. We want to know whether they will fight to return treatment decisions to patients and their doctors, and whether they will demand real answers about why health insurance costs keep rising. A candidate who is unwilling to speak out publicly about the high cost of health insurance and its impact on New Hampshire families is, in effect, endorsing the system as it stands today. Nine in ten Granite Staters have made that clear that silence is unacceptable.
New Hampshire voters want a leader who will fight on their behalf, and it is time for those who represent us — and those who hope to — to show that they are willing to do that.
Jennifer Nunez, RN, is the former director of Emergency Services at LRGHealthcare. She lives in Gilford.