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25 Million Underinsured at Risk of Financial Ruin in Health Care Crisis |
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Some 25 million people in the United States who HAVE health insurance are experiencing increasing difficulty paying for their health care, are going without needed medical treatment because of the costs and likely face financial ruin if they become seriously ill, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund.
The percentage of underinsured U.S. adults has jumped by 60 percent since 2003, with middle-class families making up the biggest portion of the newly underinsured, says the report, How Many Are Underinsured: Trends Among U.S. Adults, 2003-2007.
The study echoes the findings of the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey, in which 96 percent of the respondents who have coverage say they are worried about being able to pay for their insurance and care. In the same survey, more than half say their current coverage doesn’t cover all the care they need at a price they can afford.
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According to the Commonwealth Fund report on the underinsured:
Much of this growth comes from the ranks of the middle class. While low-income people remain vulnerable, middle-income families have been hit hardest. For adults with incomes above 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $40,000 per year for a family), the underinsured rates nearly tripled since 2003.
An unstoppable rise in health care costs and insurance polices that require larger and larger co-payments and deductibles, along with a trend of limited benefits, are forcing families to pay more of their income for health care. The study says the underinsured are now facing the same problems as the nearly 50 million people in the country with no health coverage at all.
In terms of access problems and financial stress, underinsured people—even though they have coverage all year—report experiences similar to the uninsured. More than half of the underinsured (53 percent) and two-thirds of the uninsured (68 percent) went without needed care—including not seeing a doctor when sick, not filling prescriptions, and not following up on recommended tests or treatment.
About half of the underinsured (45 percent) and uninsured (51 percent ) reported difficulty paying bills, being contacted by collection agencies for unpaid bills, or changing their way of life to pay medical bills. Many reported that they took on a loan, a mortgage against their home, or credit card debt to pay their bills, suggesting that these financial difficulties had the potential to linger into the future.
Health care reform, centered on quality health care for all, is one of the central issues for working families in the November elections. Of the nearly 27,000 people who took the AFL-CIO/Working America survey, 79 percent say health care will be a key issue when they cast their ballots, and 97 percent say they plan to vote this fall.
This spring, some 300 AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils focused on health care reform and the fall elections in discussions with member at monthly union meetings. Beginning last month, union members in dozens of cities mobilized for neighborhood labor walks to talk with other union members about John McCain’s health care plans.
McCain’s proposal is a rehash of President Bush’s failed scheme. It won’t cut costs, won’t cover more people and would raise taxes on employers and employees alike, pushing workers out of job-based plans and leaving them at the mercy of the private insurance market.
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These are shameful numbers. As long as the insurance companies have a place in deciding who gets covered for treatment instead of a physician, these numbers will rise. It is time for Labor to sit down with Sen. Obama and STRESS the need for a single payer health system.
As reported, over 300 CLCs focused on reform. Take note: 108 CLCs have endorsed HR 676!
This event is coming up! HAve you got your event planned?
38,000 Health Insurance Executives will be in San Francisco. In solidarity with protests on June 19th and in celebration of Juneteenth, the anniversary of the emancipation from slavery and now our fight for emancipation from the insurance companies, health care activists around the country are organizing demonstrations at insurance companies with patients, nurses, doctors, social workers, and Americans of every stripe protesting the National Health Insurance industry to say:
Health Care YES! Health Insurance NO! Guaranteed, Single Payer Health Care NOW!
TAKE ACTION JUNE 19th!
HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system in the U.S. by
expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.
HR 676 would cover every person in the U. S. for all necessary medical
care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient
services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental,
mental
health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for
substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic and long term care.
HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions
annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private
health insurance industry and HMOs.
As of June 9th.:
HR 676 currently has 90 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. Co-sponsors and bill text are here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.00676:
HR 676 has been endorsed by 430 union organizations in 48 states
including 108 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 33 state AFL-CIO’s (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA & AK).
HR 676 gets the bloodsuckers out of health care: big pharmaceutical companies with their overpriced and unsafe drugs; for profit health care insurance companies who siphon off millions of dollars in profit and CEO bonuses; and the malpractice lawyers who have raised the cost of medical malpractice insurance astronomically to cover thousands of frivolous cases.
Why do Americans pay more than anyone else in the world for prescriptions and health care and yet we are way down on the list of healthy people? It’s not going to be an easy battle, the bloodsuckers have unlimited funds and lawyers to fight it every step of the way….
Universal Health Care
A poem by David G. Hurlburt 2007
Health care is our basic human right.
Now is the time to stand up and fight.
Put our money and our vote up on the line.
Get up on our feet and walk a picket line.
Dial a phone or write a letter,
Do it so every one will feel better.
Why should only rich have medical care?
And the poor kids die but Bush doesn’t care?
Get out of your chair and in to the street.
It is time for us all to vote with our feet.
Show and tell politicians, turn up the heat.
If we all fight together we can not be beat.
The Iraqis get universal health care,
The rules of war require that its there.
Prisoners in Git-mo get medical care.
But not all Americans that’s just not fair?
What about the hard working poor?
They need medical care for sure?
The system is broken it profits the greedy.
Let us fix the system to serve the needy.
Bush and Cheney are the real Sicko’s,
Impeachment is needed don’t you know.
Denial of health care to all is a high crime,
Remove them from office it is way past time.
While we are at it Health care for profit must go.
Single payer health care for all is the way to go.
Overhead and profit is just another poison pill.
We have had enough we have taken our fill.
Skyrocketing premiums, deductibles and co-pay,
Caused by advertising, profit and big CEO pay.
It must be stopped now and here is the fix.
There is a bill in the congress HR six seven six.
David Hurlburt
CWA local 9410