Study Finds 49M Burdened With High Medical Costs

[OhioChick]

POSTED: 4:31 pm EST December 12, 2006

For some people, paying for health care is starting to eat into family budgets in a big way, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Forty-nine million Americans, one-fifth of Americans under age 65, are burdened by health care expenditures that consume 10 percent or more of family income," said Dr. Jessica Banthin, who tracked expenditures at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The researchers found that the number of people with that 10 perecnt burden increased by 12 million people between 1996 and 2003. One-third of those in poor families hit that mark, and one-quarter of people in low- and middle-income families did.

And having good coverage doesn't necessarily change things.

"It doesn't matter what type of health insurance you have. The risk is the same for people who receive health insurance coverage through their employer," Banthin said.
http://www.newsnet5.com/health/10519351/detail.html

[WCGreen]

1. We have insurance...

And we still shelled out 10 grand this year....

[OhioChick]

2. I hear you.......

same here. With insurance, we spent well over 10K this year. :(

[OneBlueSky]

3. the medical and insurance industries in this country are huge ripoffs . . .

and only universal healthcare and strict price controls will stop what has become a gigantic corporate ATM . . .

there are some sectors of the economy that just aren't suited to unfettered capitalism, and healthcare is one of them . . .

[lovuian]

4. Its 10,000 this year and next year 15,000 with less coverage

people aren't making that kinda money

We are not competitive without Universal health

[knitter4democracy]

8. Amen and amen to that!

The profit motive should not be in healthcare. Our system now boils down to "Your money or your life"--and that's no way to run the healthcare system for the entire country.

[Maraya1969]

5. People become HOMELESS because of medical bills or not having sick pay

That is a disgrace.

[maddezmom]

6. we have insurance and a child with autism

most of his daily care is not covered. Between the different therapists, school aides we shell out about $3,000 per month.

[cassiepriam]

7. How else can those managed care execs make those multi million

dollar bonuses.....

All the bonuses they make for denying care to sick Americans.

[knitter4democracy]

9. For those who say business runs it better:

The average overhead for a for-profit medical insurance company is 25-30%. Medicare's overhead is 3%. Who's more efficient and using their resources better? When Hubby tells patients or fellow docs that, it really opens their eyes.

[cassiepriam]

14. Closer to 40% is the figure I quote.........

25 is way too low I think....

[knitter4democracy]

16. I haven't seen any numbers lately.

The range is based on what I've read and what Hubby's read in AMNews. It might be around 40% by now.

[cassiepriam]

18. Might depend upon specialty area too.

[Vinca]

10. Will anything ever change?

I'm getting really discouraged. Fortunately, I'm healthy . . . currently. And getting one hell of a good self-education in medicine. It doesn't make sense for this country to not have universal coverage. You'd think the greedy CEO's (of all the companies that aren't selling health insurance) would be beating down the White House gate demanding it.

[OzarkDem]

11. Its going to get worse

a lot worse. Next on the agenda, we'll see an explosion in "insurance-lite", employers offering discount health insurance plans replacing regular insurance.

These were originally introduced as plans only for "small employers" or individuals, but the regulations in many states are already being re-written with no caps on the number of employees to be considered a "small employer".

Under these plans, there will be very high deductibles and co-pays, subject to change at any time. State regulations will be non-existent or toothless and you'll have no right to legal remedy.

[Straight Shooter]

12. Sen. Wyden (D-Oregon) rolls out his plan for universal health care today.

As an Oregonian, I think Ron Wyden is a decent man, even though he screwed up by voting for bush's Medicare plan. His intentions were good, he thought it would help rural communities, but of course nothing which bush supports is ever good for people in the long run.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-13-wyden_x.htm?csp=34

"Wyden's proposal, which he planned to unveil on Wednesday, is an outgrowth of work by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a 14-member panel that went to 50 communities around the country and heard from 28,000 people about how to reform health care.

The group, created in 2003 by legislation sponsored by Wyden and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, recommended that the government take steps to guarantee all Americans have basic health insurance coverage by 2012.

Wyden said his plan would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job without penalty and would cost the federal government no more than it's paying today for health insurance coverage. It would cover all Americans except those on Medicare or those who receive health care through the military.

Called the "Healthy Americans Act," the plan would require that employers "cash out" their existing health plans by terminating coverage and paying the amount saved directly to workers as increased wages. Workers then would be required to buy health insurance from a large pool of private plans.

I'm self-employed, a one-person business, so I don't know how this will help me. If only they would get those premiums down. :(

[Bonobo]

13. My premiums went up $200 for NO REASON!

Family of 5. We pay $1,000 per month. We use about $40 in services....maybe

[smaug]

15. $890 per month premium -

I'm paying $890 per month in premiums, and we have $100 co-pay for emergency room visits, $10 generic co-pay, $25/50/100 co-pay for non-generic. And, I can't sue the insurance company when their non-medical bean counters decide to refuse to pay for something?

When I started 11 years ago, my monthly premium was $300 per month. I haven't seen anything which required such a staggering increase.

I don't want to carry my health insurance to another job - I want to have a national health care plan like Medicare for everybody - that would reduce cost to us enough to cover it all.

Free market my ass -- I want protection from insurance companies. Medical costs eat up at least 15% of my income, including paying for medical bills not 'covered' by the insurance for no reason other than they don't want to pay.

[Tight_rope]

17. Add me to this list....and I have insurance that my company pays for.