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Everybody's
concerned about today's rising health care costs. Employers, employees,
association managers, organization managers. Everybody.
- 1 out of 4 Americans ranks health care
as the top
issue facing the U.S. today, according to a recent USA Today article.
- Health care costs went up nearly 8% in 1999,
with
another 8%-10% increase predicted for 2000.
- Many companies plan to pass on at least 25% of
their
rate hikes to their employees.1
- Prescription drug costs are expected to grow
between
13% and 17% annually for the foreseeable future.2
- To manage increasing health care costs, many
employers are reducing benefits or increasing co-payments.
- People of all ages are taking more drugs,
longer, for
more medical conditions.3
- Eighty percent of retirees take at least one
prescription drug a day.
- Americans under 65 use six to eight
prescriptions a
year, and if you're over 65 the number grows to 18.5.
- Patients don't fill almost one-fourth of all
prescriptions written.4
VantageAmerica
Solutions, Inc. plans can help members get important discounts and benefits
to save money on health care—and help fill the gaps left by
many
insurance plans.
Equally
important are the VantageAmerica Solutions, Inc. concierge services that can
be lifesavers when caregivers are trying to locate necessary services
for aging parents. According to a 1997 study5:
- In a recent study, two-thirds of all
caregivers
reported having to pass up promotions, pay increases, and even miss out
on opportunities for training in order to care for their family members.
- One-fifth of the respondents to the study had
to cut
back from full-time to being part-time work because of the demands made
on them by their caregiving responsibilities.
- More than two-thirds of the respondents said
they had
come to work late or left early to care a family member.
- And 67% reported having to take time off during
the
day to care for a family member.
- All told, the study found that the average lost
by
caregivers totalled more than $600,000 over a lifetime.
By
helping members find pre-screened, local care
providers—people
who can take an elderly parent to their doctors' appointments, or help
around the house, or just stop in to fix lunch—the Vantage
Concierge service can make it possible for members or their elderly
parents to maintain their independent lifestyles. And the Vantage
Concierge service can do a great deal more, providing information on
local health care and home care resources and more.
For
information, just call: 1-847-460-4779.
- Hewitt Associates LLC, 11/99
- Express Scripts Inc., 6/99
- Merck-Medco Managed Care LLC 6/8/99
- National Underwriter, 11/20/99
- National Center for women and Aging, Brandeis
University, and the National Alliance for
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