Few issues matter more to me on personal and professional levels than this one. I understand every person's right to choose in this country and I respect it. I merely want the majority to weigh in and select an option rather than a privileged few in backdoor talks. The issue affects the very people least likely to show up at those "summits." In some ways, I feel this issue has more immediate imporance than the war in Iraq - since it directly affects an even greater number of Americans (I'm sure that's an inflammatory statement and I apologize.)
"Consumer Reports
September 2007
Are you really covered?
Why 4 in 10 Americans can't depend on their health insurance
You might think that you don't have to worry about paying for medical care if you have health insurance. But you would be wrong.
From escalating medical debt to postponed retirement, our exclusive national survey of working-age adults shows the depth of jitters even for those lucky enough to have insurance through their jobs or families:
* 29 percent of people who had health insurance were "underinsured," with coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs.
* 49 percent overall, and 43 percent of people with insurance, said they were "somewhat" to "completely" unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.
* 20 percent of people said they were so disappointed with their HMO or PPO that they wanted to switch plans.
* 16 percent had no health plan at all, including many working respondents whose jobs didn't offer insurance, or who couldn't afford the premiums or deductibles of the available plan.
Insured but not covered
Our survey found evidence of the increasing frailty of our system of health insurance almost everywhere we looked.
Between 2001 and 2005, the percentage of middle-income families - those who earn between $40,000 and $80,000 for a family of four – who had job-based health coverage dropped by 4 percentage points. Half lost benefits because their employers dropped health insurance altogether or quit offering dependent coverage. But 15 percent gave up their employer-based insurance because they could no longer afford the premiums.
But even those who have managed to hang on to insurance have found it more difficult to pay their medical bills.
In our survey, the median household income of respondents who were underinsured was $58,950, well above the U.S. median; 22 percent lived in households making more than $100,000 per year.
An explanation isn't difficult to find: Health plans are offloading more and more expenses onto consumers. Co-pays and deductibles have risen steadily in the past several years.
This combination of deductibles and co-pays can quickly add up to serious bills in the case of a major illness. A 2006 study found that 10 percent of insured patients with cancer had out-of-pocket expenses of more than $18,500.
How to pay?
Consumers faced with higher health costs have to find the money somewhere, and many in our survey found that tough to do. Overall, 37 percent said their health insurance and checking accounts together weren't enough to pay for their medical expenses over the previous year. But 59 percent of underinsured respondents fell in that category. They had to raid their retirement accounts, run up creditcard balances, and borrow from friends and family to pay their medical bills. Twenty-seven percent said they were still in debt todoctors and hospitals, and 3 percent said medical bills had forced them to declare bankruptcy.
Almost 4 in 10 underinsured respondents deferred needed auto or home repairs. Almost 3 in 10 said they made decisions such as changing jobs, postponing retirement, or changing their marital status mainly to preserve access to health insurance.
But the most worrisome result of underinsurance is reduced access the health care itself. Forty-three percent of underinsured respondents said they had postponed going to the doctor because they couldn't afford it, and 28 percent had put off filling prescriptions."
This is a middle class and above issue. We're the ones suffering. If we don't come up with a solution, 40% of the middle class could face a financial crisis caused by health care costs. These crises drive persons of middle class education and occupation into bankruptcy and poverty.
There are solutions. Other countries have found them (Germany has had public healthcare since 1883 - and they have a good system, healthy populace, and release new drugs every year). Our answer doesn't have to be exactly the same, but we do need to stop relying on corporate money engines to make a decision. Like the environment, corporations will likely fail to respond until a crisis drives public sentiment. That crisis will be the lives of our parents and our children - are we willing to make that sacrifice?
When forced to choose between life-saving care and wealth-dependent healthcare, please choose life...whatever solution you feel best represents that option. Write your representatives today: www.usa.gov 'Contact Your Representatives'
P.S. For those of you in California, I would urge you to write your senators and reject AB 8 - mandated health insurance. As you know, mandating insurance is meaningless legislation - we have the highest number of uninsured drivers in the union despite the highest penalties for driving uninsured...the legislation will mean higher costs, not lower costs, and it does nothing to correct the access and bankruptcy problems. You may not support single payor options - but mandating families in financial crisis to further slip down the slope in order to avoid criminality is just WRONG on every level.
