Stormy, Stormy, Stormy, Health Care, Pt.2 – ‘Tis an
ill-wind that blows.
Previous…
The comprehensive ‘Commonwealth’ study analogizes the
triangulating economic storm fronts facing these victims of
health insurance/care deprivation:
1) The effective (adjusted) federal minimum wage has been
reduces to only about $2.65 an hour, when adjusted to cost of
living, compared to life 40 years ago.
2) The past, current and forecasted trend of soaring gas and
food prices, plummeting home values and growth in health
insurance/care costs are “far outstripping income growth”.
3) As a result, more and more families are engulfed in
financial straights and are having to choose between health
insurance/care necessities and other critical necessities. Even
worse health problems are the inevitable result.
How severe are these conditions? Well let us quantify…in
just a few short years:
- 29% of America’s workers reported going without
needed health care because of costs in 2001. By 2007, that
percentage had increased to 45%. The trend here is a 64% rate
of things getting worse.
- 34% of America’s workers reported having trouble
paying medical bills or running up medical debts in 2005. By
2007 this had increased to 41%. These numbers equate to
around 72 million victims by 2007.
- Counting those adults over 65 years of age, another
7 million Americans had similar problems. This would increase
that total to 79 million adults struggling to pay medical
bills,
- 64% of all U.S. adults under 65 (about 116 million
Americans) reported either having problems with medical bills
and debt, putting off necessary medical care because of cost
or being either uninsured or underinsured and consequently
having high out-of-pocket medical costs relative to their
income in 2007,
Continued…
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