Nick Stewart: Why medical costs are skyrocketing beyond general inflation

Nick Stewart: Why medical costs are skyrocketing beyond general inflation

THREE KEY FACTS Nick Stewart is a financial adviser and chief executive at Stewart Group OPINION New Zealanders with health insurance are facing...

Apps on prescription. According to health insurance companies, they are expensive and probably often useless — you hear them quite regularly. Always from the health insurance companies themselves, of course, because they bear the costs (i.e. the insured persons). As the latest report by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds is intended to show,... To the article: Health apps on prescription: Costs are rising despite questi…

Rising costs of health insurance challenging U.S. small businesses ability to provide competitive offerings

The rapidly rising cost of health insurance is “crippling” U.S. small businesses, according to a new report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).  Participation in the small group market, where most small businesses purchase coverage, is in a “death spiral,” the report says. It says the number of participants has declined sharply in recent years, with a decrease of 7.4% from 2022 to 2023.  “The market ended the year in 202…