Yeah, I’m getting hit with all kinds of out-of-pocket costs now. Anyone else?
Researchers at the Commonwealth Fund found that 21 percent of adults with private health insurance spent five percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket health care costs even before factoring in premiums. In that group, low-income adults had the highest costs, which in some cases surpassed 10 percent of their income.
The report, touted as “Too High A Price: Out-of Pocket Health Care Costs in the United States,” includes survey data from people with employer-sponsored health insurance, Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, individual health insurance, Medicaid, and other forms of coverage.
“In order for health insurance to work for families, and for the U.S. health care system to work well, it will be important to bring down the number of people who are underinsured — people who have coverage that doesn’t provide adequate financial protection,” Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D said in a press release.
Blumenthal added: “Research shows that people who have insurance but have high health care costs relative to their income are as likely to skip getting the care they need as those with no insurance at all.”
As long as health care is a for-profit (capitalist) industry it will be more expensive and less effective then necessary. Profit has to come from somewhere. It generally comes from reducing the cost of labor which is the biggest expense for any business. By understaffing your company and paying the people you do employ the lowest wage possible, the Capitalist can gain the greatest profit. Insurance companies treat doctors like employees. In order for the insurance company to realize the most profit they must increase the number of patients a doctor treats per hour and reduce the fee that they will agree to pay the doctor. Our current health care delivery system is sick and the ACA only made it sicker. Medicare for all.