how wealth is being controlled. join the conversation tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. announcer: the president, just released in paperback, presents biographies of every president, organized by their ranking in our presidential historian survey. visit c-span.org/thepresidents and order your copy today, wherever books are sold. on journal continues. host: joining us this morning is the health policy senior with the american benefits council to talk about employer-sponsored health care. good morning. thank you so much. trend forhe employer-based health insurance before covid-19? guest: certainly before

covid-19, let me say that employers sponsored covered, at least before the crisis, 178 million americans and their families got coverage from their employers. if you're talking about the trend, health care cost was a top concern even before the crisis. right now this economic and public health crisis has raised questions and concerns about making sure that that system can still provide affordable coverage to millions of americans including those who have just lost their job. kaiserccording to the family foundation and cnbc, the average annual premiums for coverage in 2019 are over $7,000, and 20,000 four family coverage for workers covered by

their employer plan. that is a 4-5% increase over 2018. 3.4% ines increased by inflation by two percent. before this pandemic, how were people making ends meet and covering their health care costs? guest: we know that before the pandemic, health care costs were a top concern for working families. indeed, all individuals. our member companies and employees were committed to really addressing the drivers of higher health care costs and indeed working with congress and policymakers to get at the underlying drivers of higher health care costs are so that employers can continue to offer affordable and high quality health care and really with a focus on value. host: what is the american

benefits council? who do you represent and how are you funding? we are washington, d.c. based employee benefits public policy organization advocating for employers dedicated to achieving the best in class solutions for the retirement and health security of health-care workers or families. members include over 220 of the world's largest corporations and collectively either direct sponsor therectly benefits of virtually all americans covered by employer-sponsored plans. host: we want to invite our viewers to join in. if you live in the eastern central part of the country, (202) 748-8000, and in the pacific portion of the country,

(202) 748-8001. who will have to cover the increased in costs of health care due to this pandemic? guest: right now employees are focused on how they can help their employees and their families through this public health and economic crisis. employers have already taken significant steps to try to support their employees during this crisis. they have been taking action to improve screening and prevention and treatment of covid-19 and enhance access to telehealth services. yet while we are all trying to get through this crisis day by day, and there's also a great deal of uncertainty about how the virus will impact health care costs next year. the stakes of guessing wrong are

significant. when there is a new high-cost illness or cure, you can expect to see a rise in premiums the following year to try to recoup some of those higher costs. covid-19 has an enormous amount of uncertainty about what those costs will be just as there is a great deal of uncertainty about the virus itself, how many people will be infected, how .eriously this will get when will a cure or a vaccine be available, we just do not have the answers. we have seen some studies indicating that the cost of inpatient covid-19 treatment could exceed $20,000, $90,000 for a patient who has been on prolonged ventilator support

according to research from the kaiser family foundation. there's also some other reports about the projected total costs for the commercial market of the covid-19 crisis and treating covid-19 in the commercial market, including foyer plans and also individual plans. those range from a total of 34 billion nationwide to 251 billion nationwide. there is a potential that those costs could even be higher. that information comes from covered california, the official insurance market place in california. covered california also said, how will that translate into premium increases, because those extra costs that are unanticipated for a new illness or new treatments, and we talked about what they may be for covid-19, they have to be translated into premiums to try

to recoup those costs. covered california estimated the premium increases in the individual and employer markets from 4%1, could range the0% for covid-19 in absence of any federal action from congress. host: this is tony from arkansas. good morning. you are up first. i have a question. on socialt people security are getting their stimulus checks last week. and i am wondering why we are not getting our checks. host: we are talking about health care issues. let's go to lorraine in new york. caller: my question is, my

understanding is there has been a merger of a large commercial insurance. they used to be 30 or 100 of them right now there are only 12 big companies. i question is around profits, how much on average do large insurance company, commercial companies make in profit and take off the top for themselves? that is my question. certainly i think before the covid-19 crisis, we were looking again at what some of the underlying drivers of higher thish care costs are in country, including consolidation and competition and certainly those questions continue and

will continue to try to address some of those drivers of health care. we also know that many of the largest insurance companies have also really been at the forefront of trying to take care and make sure that individuals and families were covered and had access to the treatment and care that they need and affordably so during this crisis. pat in austin texas, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i am a retired government employee, and i still have my employer benefits. i will be turning 65 next year. and i am not sure of the next steps. i think i need to go to social

security and do something, and i think you have to have everything done within three months of your birthday. thisuestion is, with pandemic, will they be extending that time? because most offices are closed right now. i had planned on getting this is done, now that i can't, will there be any extension for that, and what really are my next steps? thank you? . >> i think your question just highlights how this crisis is affecting all of us in so many different ways, including figuring out where you go and what you do to file -- to become eligible in sign up for medicare -- to become eligible