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In Economic ‘Perfect Storm,’ Health Costs Force Families to Go Without |
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Faced with a “perfect storm” of economic troubles, more working families than ever are sacrificing needed health care, a report by the nonprofit research group the Commonwealth Fund reveals.
The report, which draws on four years of survey data, also says it has “never been more urgent” to fix the nation’s broken health care system.
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The report, Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance is Burdening Working Families, finds that two-thirds of the working-age population went without health insurance in 2007, were underinsured, had trouble paying their medical bills or went without needed care because of the costs.
A perfect storm of economic trends is battering working families. The federal minimum wage is now three dollars an hour lower, in real terms, than it was 40 years ago; gas and food prices are soaring; home values are declining; growth in health care costs is far outstripping income growth; and people are increasingly going without the protection of health coverage….Families are facing financial crises and are forced to make hard choices among life’s necessities, often sacrificing health care and health insurance along the way.
According to the report, 45 percent of working-age people reported they went without needed health care in 2007 because of costs, compared with 29 percent in 2001.
The report finds that 41 percent, or 72 million working-age adults, had trouble paying a medical bill or ran up medical debt in 2007, compared with 34 percent in 2005. Families in all income ranges reported growing trouble with their medical costs, but:
Families with low and moderate incomes were particularly hard hit: More than half of adults with incomes under $40,000 reported problems with their medical bills in 2007. Underinsured adults or those with gaps in their health insurance reported the highest rates.
Other findings include:
- Adults in all income groups spent more on health care in 2007. More than half of adults in families with incomes less than $20,000 and more than one-third of adults earning between $20,000 and $60,000 spent 10 percent or more of their income on health care. Among those earning between $40,000 and $60,000, the rate doubled from 18 percent in 2001 to 36 percent in 2007.
- The proportion of underinsured adults younger than 65 (people whose out-of-pocket costs, excluding premiums, are so high relative to their income that they can’t afford the care they need) increased from 9 percent to 14 percent, or to 25 million people, between 2003 and 2007.
- Adults who experienced medical bill problems faced dire financial problems: 29 percent were unable to pay for such basic necessities as food, heat or rent because of their bills; 39 percent used their savings to pay bills; and 30 percent took on credit card debt.
The Commonwealth Fund’s report says the majority of voters are dissatisfied with the nation’s health care system and want it fixed.
With working families in crisis from a combination of faltering job and income security and a dramatic acceleration in the cost of basic life necessities, the time has never been more urgent for policymakers to forge ahead on solutions to the nation’s health insurance problems.
The report does not endorse the health care proposals of either presidential candidate. But there are very wide differences between them.
Sen. John McCain’s health care proposal rehashes President Bush’s failed approach. It would not cut costs or cover more people—but it would tax employer-provided health benefits, pushing workers out of job-based plans and leaving them at the mercy of the private insurance market. His proposal focuses on high-deductible health savings accounts (HSAs), which provide fewer benefits at higher costs and undermine existing employer-based health care.
Click here to read an analysis of the two health care plans from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). For a look at what more than 26,000 respondents to the AFL-CIO’s 2008 Health Care for America Survey had to say, click here.
The Commonwealth Fund recently released two other reports on the U.S. health care system. Click here to read about how the U.S. system stacks up against other industrialized nations and here for a look at the growing number of U.S. workers with health insurance who are going without medical care because of inadequate coverage and high costs.
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And the trend is to “negotiate” with the insurance companies so “all” will be covered?
McSame wants to give Americans “tax credits” to purchase insurance from the profit seeking animals. Also talks about health savings accounts, which won’t provide enough coverage, specially women. What if you are unemployed? There are plenty since the lame duck resident of the White House took office.
Obama wants to expand Medicare to those uninsured, mandate it for all children. Good, but again, the profit animals control who gets approved or denied services/procedures.
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.
HR 676 currently has 91 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 455 union organizations in 49 states
including 112 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 37 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, MI, MT, NE & NY).
President Sweeney, WE want to hear from you why you do not support single payer health care.
And Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney support single payer, like SB 840 in California or HR 676. Why isn’t the AFL comparing their progressive stance with the weak reforms proposed by Obama? Why does he want to keep the predator insurance companies in charge of health care? Real change won’t come about by pretending that Nader and Cynthia Mckinney don’t exist or ignoring single payer. Obama will continue to move to the right and sell us out if we don’t pressure him to be more progressive.
Most of my working life has been in union jobs so my health care was sufficient.
Health care for ALL Americans should be guaranteed by the government. It should NEVER have been set up as a “for profit” system. Americans pay taxes; many corporations don’t; many wealthy Americans don’t. Make everyone pay their fair share of taxes, and this will fund health care for all. I do not believe the current health care system can be fixed, because it is based on bureaucracy and greed. It needs to be eliminated and changed to a universal health care system, with no cost to any of us. HR 676 makes perfect sense.