Archive: February, 2013
Here’s a quick question. How much does your health insurance cost? You probably have no idea.
Most Americans get coverage through an employer – either their own, their spouse’s or their parent’s. The employer usually picks up most of the tab, somewhere between 50 and 80%. You probably know the size of your share, since it is taken out of each paycheck. But few people know the size of the entire bill.
That is about the change. Starting this year, the W-2 form you receive from your employer will include the full amount that was paid for your health coverage. (That’s the form you file with your tax return listing compensation for the year. Employers who file fewer than 250 of them are exempt.) When you see it, you may be in for a big surprise.
Health care is changing almost before our eyes, and the headlines just scratch the surface. From Obamacare to Medicare to managed care to genomics, the blog reports on and analyzes the laws, government policies, and political trends that are transforming the care we receive and the way we pay for it. The Field Clinic dissects the latest health care news, explaining it and putting it in context.
The Field Clinic is written by:
Robert I. Field, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.H, professor of law at the Earle Mack School of Law and professor of health management and policy at the School of Public Health at Drexel University. He is the author of Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation and Compromise, a comprehensive overview of the government’s oversight of health care published by Oxford University Press.
Erica Cohen, a third-year law student concentrating in health law at Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law. She graduated from the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University with a major in online journalism and minors in business and political science. Prior to attending law school, Erica worked for DKMS Americas, the world's largest bone marrow donor center. She currently works as a legal intern in the office of general counsel at a local hospital.
