Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance Fear vs. Other Fears, Pt.1 -- Fears

Here is a synopsis of an interesting article by Ezra Klein that The American Prospect posted on Alter.net – Health & Wellness section. The theme states that “More Americans Fear Losing Their Health Insurance Than Being in a Terrorist Attack”. Ezra first points out the paradox “If health insurance were cheap, we could all buy it. If universal health care could get 60 votes in the Senate, we'd all have it. But these two imperatives -- the need to control costs and the need to attract the 60 Senate votes required to overcome a filibuster -- point in opposite directions. This is the central paradox of health reform”. Mr. Klien states that the main impasse is not about the 47 million or more Americans who can’t afford health insurance or even the badly antiquated business model that our current health care system is based upon. It’s all about the out of control costs. Even back in 2006, the annual health care cost for the average American family was $13,600. The plight for most of those 47 million should be obvious. Even in late 2007, a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation prioritized this great American concern by stating “more Americans were ‘very worried’ about being priced out of their health insurance than feared losing their job, their house, or being in a terrorist attack”. From even as far back as 2000, wages haven’t come anywhere close to keeping up with the cost of health insurance premiums, which have almost doubled.

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