Health hikes outstrip wages
Premiums rise 60%, study finds

By Jeff Raymond

Published: November 28, 2006

Oklahomans' health insurance premiums increased 60 percent in the last six years, greatly outpacing a 13 percent increase in earnings, a health care advocacy group reported Monday.

Families USA, based in Washington, released figures for Oklahoma and the nation. Nationally, insurance premiums rose 78 percent and earnings rose 12 percent.

Families USA, which promotes universal health care coverage, analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Families USA spokesman Dave Lemmon urged legislators to make heath insurance premium costs more of a priority.

"With this kind of data, people realize they're falling farther and farther behind," he said. "Ultimately, if we don't do something about this health care affordability crisis, what we're going to see is more and more folks who are uninsured. It's unsustainable for businesses, and certainly it's unsustainable for families."

Lemmon emphasized the price the insured pay for the uninsured: A Families USA study estimated paying for medical care for the uninsured cost families an extra $922 a year.

Most states faced grim news, but not all. North Dakota led the list buoyed by a 31 percent increase in earnings. South Carolina was worst, with insurance costs outpacing earnings 10 to one.

Families USA board member and former state Sen. Angela Monson said the statistics didn't surprise her, and Oklahomans need only look at their paychecks to see they've been affected.

"We've all experienced it," she said.

A familiar problem

For Monson, the report is familiar, and it shows Americans face questions that have dogged them for two decades — that current trends are "unsustainable" and immensely complicated.

"Whatever the changes are, they will be hard and they will be long. They will be broad and they will be far-reaching. ... There's nobody, I think, that would feel comfortable with these numbers," she said.

Sarah Holbrook knows how rising premiums can squeeze a family. Although the state now pays teachers' premiums, the 13-year teacher at Edmond's Washington Irving Elementary School pays handsomely for family health coverage.

"About 21 percent of my income goes toward (health) insurance for my family," she said.

"There's nobody, I think, that would feel comfortable with these

numbers."

Former state Sen. Angela Monson

Related Topics: Health and Fitness, Medicine, Domestic Policy, Social Policy, Political Policy, Politics, Health Care Policy, Health Care Costs, Health Care Issues

Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford

Ads by Yahoo!

Brasada Ranch Real Estate
Homesites with panoramic views in Central Oregon. Features private golf course and equestrian facilities.
www.brasada.com

Oklahoma City Jobs
$30/Hour Work From Home Jobs.View Home Jobs Now! Computer Required.
National-News-Gazette.com