Still Time to Take the AFL-CIO Health Care Survey

by Mike Hall, May 19, 2009

There’s still time to take the AFL-CIO’s 2009 Health Care for America Survey. Many of those who have done so are telling us how they have lost their jobs in the economic downturn and now are struggling to foot the bill for their health care—or are going without coverage. And those  who still receive health care coverage through their employer say they are paying more and more as health care costs soar, according to a new study.

Even when workers struggle to pay for their own health coverage, the for-profit insurance industry puts up roadblocks. Ann, from Jackson, Tenn., writes at the AFL-CIO survey that because of a “pre-existing condition,” when she tries to secure coverage, she is turned down. Now she says:

I get my health insurance through my church—I pray that I don’t get sick.

Ann is one of 16,000 people who have completed the survey—co-sponsored by Working America—and one of the more than 4,300 respondents who have shared their personal health care stories. Elizabeth and her husband in Arizona went without insurance for just two months, but in that time her husband had a heart attack.

This has led us into bankruptcy and we lost our house. One critical illness shouldn’t wipe out everything it took a lifetime to build.

Survey respondents describe high health care costs, lack of coverage for students, inadequate military retirement coverage, cancer diagnoses they can’t afford to treat and other medical issues that are being neglected due to inadequate coverage. Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

This survey is showing that in today’s economy, it is more urgent than ever that we work toward health care reform that provides quality, affordable coverage for everyone, including those who are unemployed or between jobs. People who work hard all their lives and pay their fair share should not be hung out to dry during hard times. These stories serve as a constant reminder that our current system is broken and we must reform it now.

Meanwhile, a study by the consulting group Milliman Inc., finds that for the third year in a row, health care costs—premiums, co-pays and deductibles—rose by double digits (14.7 percent) this year for workers who receive coverage through work. Employers are paying 5.4 percent more in premium costs.

According to the report, the average cost to insure a family of four this year is $16,771. Employers paid average contribution of $9,947 per worker. Employees paid an average of $4,004 in payroll deductions and an additional $2,820 in out-of-pocket expenses.

The report finds that not only are employers shifting more costs to workers, some are dropping health coverage altogether.

That’s what happened to Christy in Oregon. She tells the Health Care for America Survey that several years ago, her employer began providing health coverage after years without. Though the coverage was barebones—with a $5,000 deductible—she was able to get treatment for a serious foot ailment. Yet:

I am still in pain and now in debt for $1,800. I can’t afford to go back and now we’ve had to give up what little insurance we had through work because the company can no longer afford the premiums.

At least I have car insurance. If I were to get seriously hurt, I would throw myself in my car and drive it into a tree.

Our Health Care for America Survey is open to the public. The survey features multiple choice questions asking about the current state of health care as well as an option to share personal stories. Click here to take the survey and tell your story.

We’ll share the results of the survey with national and state leaders and the media. Congress, the Obama administration and the media are hearing about health care reform from drug companies and insurance companies. We want to make sure they hear from working families as well.

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