Karen and I (and our children) have been blessed to have health care insurance our entire lives, having been employed by firms and universities that offer health insurance to their employees. However, like the individuals depicted below in today’s New York Times article , our out-of-pocket costs have risen dramatically over the years, with significant increases in our health care insurance premiums, our co-pays for physician visits and prescriptions, and deductibles.
Since the recession of 2001, the employee’s average cost of an annual health care premium for family coverage has nearly doubled — to $3,300, up from $1,800 — while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up. Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household’s income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s spending.
In a recent survey by Deloitte’s health research center, only 7 percent of people said they felt financially prepared for their future health care needs.
I believe that we should have universal private health care, similar to automobile insurance, in which everyone has to be insured, and everyone has to pay for it (with subsidies for the poor). However, what treatments and prescriptions get covered, and how people need to be encouraged to live healthier lifestyles to reduce demand for certain services, will need to be carefully determined to avoid bankrupting both people and our economy. The time to develop a solution is now.
Aneil
Filed under: Trust
