With the increase in health insurance premiums, more money is necessary to pay the bill and less money is available for other expenses, according to Forbes.
Here are five notes:
1. In 2012, income increased 4.0 percent, partly due to Congress reducing the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent.
2. The tax reverted back to 6.2 percent in 2013, resulting in income only rising 0.7 percent.
3. The government mandated every policy must cover the 10 essential health benefits resulting in insurance companies no longer operating in a free-market system.
4. The market needs to create more competition among insurers and insurers should create customized policies where the consumer can select the degree and type of coverage they want from a list of broad categories.
5. Insurance companies should sell across state boundaries, resulting in a power shift from individual states to the federal government.
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