Health Insurance Crisis Continues.....

[From the diaries by susanhu.]

The cost of health insurance for working Americans climbed 9.2 percent this year, the lowest rate of increase since 2000 but still far ahead of both general inflation and workers’ pay increases, according to a nationwide survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

On average, health insurance for a family cost $10,880 this year, with the employer paying $8,167 and the worker $2,713, the survey found. The total cost almost exactly matches the total annual earnings of a person working full time at the minimum wage, the survey noted.

At the same time, the proportion of employers providing health insurance continued its steady decline, falling to 60 percent this year from 69 percent five years ago. Most of the decline was among very small companies, the survey found, noting that less than half — 47 percent — of firms with three to nine workers now offer medical coverage to their employees.

This year is the second in a row with a slower rise in premiums, slipping from 11.2 percent last year and 13.9 percent in 2003. That 2003 rise capped an unbroken string of progressively higher increases dating back to 1996.

The current “next big thing” is what has been dubbed “consumer-driven” health care, which combines high-deductible insurance with a fund that the individual can use to cover routine costs. In these arrangements, consumers are allowed to accumulate unspent money in the fund, giving them, theorists argue, an incentive to shop and eliminate unnecessary spending.

First, let’s place these premium increases in perspective. According to the Bureau of Labor Services, wages for non-supervisory employees have grown 13.24% from January 2001 to July 2005. Over the same time, inflation increased 11.59%, making inflation adjusted wage growth 1.6% over a five and a half year period.

So, health insurance increased 13.9% in 2003, 11.2% in 2004 and 9.2% this year. Over the same time, wages have been near stagnant after inflation. In other words, premiums are taking a larger percentage of a consumer budget that is essentially stagnant.

But that’s not the end of this situation. Employers are using higher deductible policies. So not only is the average American family paying more for insurance, they are also paying more in the form of deductible payments. This hidden cost further eats into the near stagnant wages.

More importantly, fewer small companies – which employ most Americans – are providing heath insurance. So, assuming a person has a job, it’s less likely they will be able to get insurance through their employer.

Is anybody listening? Americans are still losing out in this situation.

Link

7 Comments

Dean Pajevic on September 14, 2005 at 11:41 pm

This morning, I was in my car where I can hear — faintly — the Seattle Air America station. The 9AM-noon slot has been taken over by Thom Hartmann — Al Franken is now on tape delay.

Hartmann was talking about health insurance today. He cited an example of Honda looking to open a new plant in the U.S. He said that Alabama offered Honda millions in tax breaks and all kinds of other incentives. But Honda finally decided to build the plant in Canada because of the cost of health insurance in the U.S.

P.S. I haven’t heard Hartmann’s show before, and was mostly impressed. He seems like someone who has done a lot of radio. A pro. (I don’t know his background.)

chocolate ink on September 15, 2005 at 12:14 am

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html I knew I had this article saved somewhere and finally found it. About Toyota going to Canada instead of here even though they were offered a better deal by the US tax wise to build here…decision to build plant in Canada involved the health care angle but also purports that American’s are rather stupid and can’t follow directions or read directions like our Canadian friends…and given the level of knowledge in many high school graduates I’ve seen over the years I’d say that is sadly quite true.(that doesn’t begin to count all the dropouts)
- Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:34 am
  
  I was a few minutes late finding mine lol
- Dean Pajevic on September 15, 2005 at 2:02 am
  
  TOYOTA! I was trying to remember which Japanese car company it was. Ha! Thanks for finding that :):)
  
  What’s up with our being so stupid and lacking in knowledge? You don’t suppose it could have anything to do with our materialistic, addicted-to-WalMart-and-infantile-religions society, do you?
Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:33 am

I blogged this a while back in response to a “kill the public school system” theme that our local “Jeff Gannon” is always putting up on his blog. The part you are talking about was diaried by wegerje and front paged over at dKos.

Here you go:

In recent light of the talking points evidenced by your group of GOP whores that are desperately trying to destroy the New Milford education system with their “penny-wise” solutions that in the long run will only create a disaster for everyone to suffer through as well… Consider this post from dKos that shows what is the future of business in New Milford and this country if we do not invest in today’s kids education even more than what either side is considering in our town, state, and certainly by our leaderless nation.

Why Toyota chose Canada over Alabama/Mississippi.
by wegerje Fri Jul 8th, 2005 at 21:03:52

More evidence that an educated workforce and government-subsidized health care are the best forms of economic development

They got a $125 Million is subsidies from the Canadians. But that wasn’t what sealed the deal, because several southern states offered nearly double the subsidies. What sealed the deal was the quality of education that their potential workers in Canada possessed.

The extra subsidies offered by the U.S. state would have been eaten up by the need to train and educate the workers in those states to the standards of a modern mechanized and digitized automobile plant. CBC news reports:

The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.

Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.

He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained – and often illiterate – workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use “pictorials” to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.

“The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario,” Fedchun said.

It’s ironic that those southern states were willing to fork over the money to get the plant, but not to spend the same money to raise the educational standards in their schools. It’s a classic penny-wise, pound-foolish approach.

But what about a northern state with better education. Well too bad northern states, you also are being “penny-wise and pound-foolish”.

Only now it’s health care that is a show stopper”

In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.

“Most people don’t think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage,” he said.

Tanguay said Toyota’s decision on where to build its seventh North American plant was “not only about money.”

“It’s about being in the right place,” he said, noting the company can rely on the expertise of experienced Cambridge workers to help get Woodstock up and running.

Where is this world going when even the business world has figured out that GOP far-right wing politics make no sense whatsoever? Who would’ve thunk it, huh? The business world is better off with left social policies that extend educational and health benefits. Even if it costs us a few bucks more now it will pay off in the long run. This is no longer just an opinion of the working man or women, unions, or simply a statistical fact, but it is just plain good business sense. Do any of you nay-sayers have any of that? Apparently not…

Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:40 am

I didn’t even get past this part:
On average, health insurance for a family cost $10,880 this year, with the employer paying $8,167 and the worker $2,713, the survey found. The total cost almost exactly matches the total annual earnings of a person working full time at the minimum wage, the survey noted.

And I was shocked… This is truly an outrageous injustice. I really am not certain what to say about it?

asdf on September 15, 2005 at 9:28 am

Luckily, if we work hard enough, we can get a Democratic contgress and president who will set up a single payer health system!

Oops, sorry, no they won’t, they’re in bed with the same corporate insurance company crowd as the Republicans.

Dean Pajevic on September 14, 2005 at 11:41 pm

This morning, I was in my car where I can hear — faintly — the Seattle Air America station. The 9AM-noon slot has been taken over by Thom Hartmann — Al Franken is now on tape delay.

Hartmann was talking about health insurance today. He cited an example of Honda looking to open a new plant in the U.S. He said that Alabama offered Honda millions in tax breaks and all kinds of other incentives. But Honda finally decided to build the plant in Canada because of the cost of health insurance in the U.S.

P.S. I haven’t heard Hartmann’s show before, and was mostly impressed. He seems like someone who has done a lot of radio. A pro. (I don’t know his background.)
- chocolate ink on September 15, 2005 at 12:14 am
  
  http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html I knew I had this article saved somewhere and finally found it. About Toyota going to Canada instead of here even though they were offered a better deal by the US tax wise to build here…decision to build plant in Canada involved the health care angle but also purports that American’s are rather stupid and can’t follow directions or read directions like our Canadian friends…and given the level of knowledge in many high school graduates I’ve seen over the years I’d say that is sadly quite true.(that doesn’t begin to count all the dropouts)
  - Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:34 am
    
    I was a few minutes late finding mine lol
  - Dean Pajevic on September 15, 2005 at 2:02 am
    
    TOYOTA! I was trying to remember which Japanese car company it was. Ha! Thanks for finding that :):)
    
    What’s up with our being so stupid and lacking in knowledge? You don’t suppose it could have anything to do with our materialistic, addicted-to-WalMart-and-infantile-religions society, do you?
- Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:33 am
  
  I blogged this a while back in response to a “kill the public school system” theme that our local “Jeff Gannon” is always putting up on his blog. The part you are talking about was diaried by wegerje and front paged over at dKos.
  
  Here you go:
  
  In recent light of the talking points evidenced by your group of GOP whores that are desperately trying to destroy the New Milford education system with their “penny-wise” solutions that in the long run will only create a disaster for everyone to suffer through as well… Consider this post from dKos that shows what is the future of business in New Milford and this country if we do not invest in today’s kids education even more than what either side is considering in our town, state, and certainly by our leaderless nation.
  
  Why Toyota chose Canada over Alabama/Mississippi.
  by wegerje Fri Jul 8th, 2005 at 21:03:52
  
  More evidence that an educated workforce and government-subsidized health care are the best forms of economic development
  
  They got a $125 Million is subsidies from the Canadians. But that wasn’t what sealed the deal, because several southern states offered nearly double the subsidies. What sealed the deal was the quality of education that their potential workers in Canada possessed.
  
  The extra subsidies offered by the U.S. state would have been eaten up by the need to train and educate the workers in those states to the standards of a modern mechanized and digitized automobile plant. CBC news reports:
  
  The factory will cost $800 million to build, with the federal and provincial governments kicking in $125 million of that to help cover research, training and infrastructure costs.
  
  Several U.S. states were reportedly prepared to offer more than double that amount of subsidy. But Fedchun said much of that extra money would have been eaten away by higher training costs than are necessary for the Woodstock project.
  
  He said Nissan and Honda have encountered difficulties getting new plants up to full production in recent years in Mississippi and Alabama due to an untrained – and often illiterate – workforce. In Alabama, trainers had to use “pictorials” to teach some illiterate workers how to use high-tech plant equipment.
  
  “The educational level and the skill level of the people down there is so much lower than it is in Ontario,” Fedchun said.
  
  It’s ironic that those southern states were willing to fork over the money to get the plant, but not to spend the same money to raise the educational standards in their schools. It’s a classic penny-wise, pound-foolish approach.
  
  But what about a northern state with better education. Well too bad northern states, you also are being “penny-wise and pound-foolish”.
  
  Only now it’s health care that is a show stopper”
  
  In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.
  
  “Most people don’t think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage,” he said.
  
  Tanguay said Toyota’s decision on where to build its seventh North American plant was “not only about money.”
  
  “It’s about being in the right place,” he said, noting the company can rely on the expertise of experienced Cambridge workers to help get Woodstock up and running.
  
  Where is this world going when even the business world has figured out that GOP far-right wing politics make no sense whatsoever? Who would’ve thunk it, huh? The business world is better off with left social policies that extend educational and health benefits. Even if it costs us a few bucks more now it will pay off in the long run. This is no longer just an opinion of the working man or women, unions, or simply a statistical fact, but it is just plain good business sense. Do any of you nay-sayers have any of that? Apparently not…
Connecticut Man1 on September 15, 2005 at 12:40 am

I didn’t even get past this part:
On average, health insurance for a family cost $10,880 this year, with the employer paying $8,167 and the worker $2,713, the survey found. The total cost almost exactly matches the total annual earnings of a person working full time at the minimum wage, the survey noted.

And I was shocked… This is truly an outrageous injustice. I really am not certain what to say about it?
asdf on September 15, 2005 at 9:28 am

Luckily, if we work hard enough, we can get a Democratic contgress and president who will set up a single payer health system!

Oops, sorry, no they won’t, they’re in bed with the same corporate insurance company crowd as the Republicans.

Health Insurance Crisis Continues…..

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