Studies Show Strain of Medical Bills

[tpsbmam]

Source: NY Times


Two studies released Wednesday morning provide further evidence of the toll health care is increasingly placing on working families, even for those who have health insurance. And as employees are paying more medical expenses out of their own pockets, they are having a harder time coming up with the money.

.......

Although inflation in insurance premiums has moderated in recent years, the Kaiser survey found employees were continuing to spend more in medical costs, including their share of yearly insurance premiums. Employees are paying an average of $3,354 in premiums for family coverage, more than double the amount they paid in 1999. The total cost for family coverage now averages $12,680 a year, up 5 percent from 2007.

.....

And as people are paying more, they are finding the higher expense less affordable. In the study by the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change, based on its national survey of households, nearly one of every five families had problems paying medical bills last year. More than half of these families said they borrowed money to pay these expenses, and nearly 20 percent of those having difficulty said they contemplated declaring personal bankruptcy as a result of their medical bills.

The study estimates that 57 million Americans live in families struggling with medical bills, and 43 million of those have insurance coverage. “It’s hitting both the insured and the uninsured, and it’s hitting middle-class families,” said Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research organization that financed the study.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/business/25health.html?hp

---

The studies were completed before the current meltdown -- it's only getting worse.

[dchill]

1. "...finding the higher expense less affordable."

I've done my own personal study, and have found the expense UN-affordable.

[cabluedem]

9. Me too. Single payer H/C now!

[OhioChick]

2. I can relate to this....

"With" insurance, I pay approximately $10-15K out of pocket per year and it's hurting me terribly.

To add insult to injury, my company was sold and the new owners no longer offer health care coverage, so every month I pay an extra $1500 for a COBRA extension.

If the stress of this doesn't kill me, the cost will.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. No Shit? Really?

Next up - hitting yourself in the head with a hammer leads to an increased incidence of hospital admissions.

(Sorry, I'm being a bit too caustic here. This issue drives me nuts. I'm a member of the medico-industrial complex, and have first-hand knowledge that the rest of the industrialized world has superior health care, whose average cost per person is half of ours.)

[MrMickeysMom]

8. You forgot "Sherlock".. I know what you're saying-

I've hung in there as a provider of clinical care during 3 models of the health care delivery system over 33 yrs.

The business model (DUH, run off screaming...) doesn't work. Health care was never meant to go the way of the business model, yet, McCain thinks it should. We spend less time on proventative care, thus provide poorer care.

This sucks, and the winners that seem to come out on top include big pharma.

[liberalhistorian]

4. And the medical industry, hospitals especially

(but doctors aren't that far behind) is one of the worst, most aggressive collectors of any industry. They don't care what your situation is, all they care about now is money and getting it as fast as they can. And if it means denying or delaying care, then so be it. I don't know how they and medical collectors sleep at night, much less look at themselves in the mirror.

[merwin]

5. Inflation in insurance premiums has moderated in recent years?

Tell that to myself and thousands of Regence Blue Sheild customers who had their insurance premiums rise by 20% this year alone.

[anarch]

6. my health plan was recently modified to "help you better understand the actual cost...

of your healthcare." Apparently by making me pay for a lot more of it.

[TahitiNut]

7. As the insurance companies have their asses handed to them for risky investments melting down ...

... watch the health insurance premiums skyrocket. Make no mistake, they've got their reserves hanging out ... big time.