Broken Health Care System Costs Employers and Employees

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/15/broken-health-care-system-costs-employers-and-employees/

by Seth Michaels, Feb 15, 2008

The skyrocketing costs of our nation’s failing health care system are hitting employers hard and that means higher costs for all of us. A look at some of the stories submitted to the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey shows just how difficult America’s workers are finding it to make sure they and their families have health care coverage. (Click here to fill out the survey and tell your health care story. You can vote here on the stories you think make the most impact.)



Joel, a UAW member from Michigan, tells an all-too-typical story about his health care costs.

I have had the same insurance for the past two years. Each year they have offered me a choice, 15–20 percent higher premiums or doubling my deductible. And you guessed it: no better coverage.

A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation bolsters observations by Joel and some of the thousands of others who have taken our survey, finding that the cost of employer-provided health insurance is increasing at unsustainable rates, leaving businesses and workers alike bearing the burden.

From 1960 to 2007, the amount spent by employers on group health insurance policies increased more than 20 times—from $23 billion in 1960 to $537 billion in 2006. Between 2001 and 2007, the cost of premiums increased 78 percent, far more than the rate of inflation.

As the cost of providing health coverage has increased, the study shows, wages have declined as a share of the economy.

FULL story at link.