The Cost of Not Having a Public Option

The California Nurses Association just sent out a press release highlighting new report from the Commonwealth Fund that projects a 94% increase in health insurance premiums by 2020, if effective reforms aren't enacted. From the e-mailed release:

Private insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage will rise by 94 percent by 2010, on top of the 119 percent increase since 1999, according to the Commonwealth Fund report. The increases in premiums from 1999 to 2008 were four times greater than the rise in family incomes, even prior to the current recession.

"These findings are merely the shocking state of premiums, not even including a concurrent jump in out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-pays, and other fees. It's no wonder that medical bills now are the leading factor in 62 percent of bankruptcies, and half of American families are rationing medical care because they can't afford it," noted Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of the 86,000-member California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Karen Davis from the Commonweath Fund writes:

Health insurance is already becoming unaffordable for families and businesses, with premium inflation outpacing wage increases. Between 1999 and 2008, employer family health insurance premiums rose by 119 percent, while the median family income rose by less than 30 percent. As a result, average family premiums for group policies have risen from 11 percent to 18 percent of median family income. And if Congress fails to pass health reforms that control health care costs, premiums are projected to rise to 24 percent of a family's income by 2020. (Click on image at right to open chart.) In any economic climate, but especially in today’s recession, most families cannot afford to devote a fourth of their income to insurance coverage, nor can businesses afford their share of insurance premiums in addition to raises for employees.

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http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/22/770519/-The-Cost-of-Not-Having-a-Public-Option

Yeah. The people who are satisfied with their employer paid healthcare better get their brains out of their asses. Their in for a real big surprise if this passes without a public option.

I was whipping through the channels the other night and Cramer was telling his viewers to buy healthcare stocks. It sounded to me like Cramer had info saying that their going to raise rates . The TOP line....

Health insurance companies are parasites on the economic body of the country. The produce nothing, they serve only themselves, and they corrupt the political process.