As out-of-pocket health costs rise,
workers sticking hospitals with bills

From the Houston Chronicle:

Those are the people whose health insurance used to cover their bills, but because employers are passing along a greater share of the financial responsibility, they don't have enough to pay their bills, said a spokeswoman for Methodist, which has also seen a rise in bad debt.

In 1998, employees nationwide paid an out-of-pocket average of $385 a year, according to Hewitt Associates, the human resources consulting firm that surveys health care expenses. This year, it's averaging $1,030.

And that's not the only extra expense employees are shouldering. Employees are also paying more to buy the insurance in the first place. In 1998, those premiums cost $630, but this year employees are paying an average of $1,565.

While employers are certainly paying more to provide coverage, their percentage share has actually shrunk. In 1998, employers covered 75 percent of the cost, according to Hewitt Associates. This year, that's down to 68 percent.

At the same time, the employees' burden has risen from 25 percent to 32 percent, according to Hewitt Associates.

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The health care crisis in this country isn't simply one of an ever increasing percentage of the population not having health insurance (it's currently up to 30% in Texas). Now, people with access to health care are starting to suffer. It is long past time for the federal government to buy out the greedy, immoral insurance companies and replace them with a single payer plan. Health care is a human right, not a privilege.

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