Case for universal care

[Omaha Steve]

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070913/OPINION02/709130309

Article published Thursday, September 13, 2007
Case for universal care

HEALTH insurance premiums are up again, this time by a "modest" 6.1 percent, highlighting once more that the way Americans pay for medical care is in critical condition.

Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance topped $12,000 for the first time this year, while the average amount picked up by workers rose to $3,281.

The good news in the Kaiser Family Foundation survey is that the increase was the smallest since 1999. The bad news is that wages over the same period rose only 3.7 percent and inflation stood at 2.6 percent. Indeed, since 2001 premiums for family coverage have gone up 78 percent, wages 19 percent, and consumer prices 17 percent. Essentially, ballooning health-care costs eat up all the gains workers make from rising wages and low inflation.

But the bad news doesn't stop there. Many businesses that took part in the survey said they plan to make significant changes to their health plans. Nearly half said they were likely to raise premiums. With inflation remaining low and no economic windfall for workers on the horizon, that means more of the same bad medicine next year.

And those companies that aren't passing on higher costs to workers are often eliminating health-care coverage entirely. About 177 million Americans are covered by employer-provided health insurance - not a bad number until you compare it to the 179 million covered in 2000, when there were about 20 million fewer Americans.

There were 47 million Americans without health insurance in 2006, a number that can only rise as more employers eliminate coverage as a worker benefit.

FULL story at link.

[Joanne98]

1. great article. K&R!