America’s patchy health care system is leaving millions of people without continuous, affordable, and effective health insurance, and we’re all paying the price.But I'm tired of reading that it's the uninsured people who have boosted the costs of healthcare. It's actually the insured who are costing everyone.
The Center for American Progress Action Fund has updated a 2005 analysis by Kenneth Thorpe for Families USA and found that, on average, 8 percent of families’ 2009 health care premiums—approximately $1,100 a year—is due to our broken system that fails to cover the uninsured.
The best way to address this burden on health insurance is to create a more efficient system that offers continuous, quality coverage for all. We can’t afford our broken system any more
The healthcare system is so out of whack because those who are insured don't shop as if they're using cash. They shop for healthcare as if price doesn't matter. That's because they're insured. They leave it up to the doctor to decide what tests are needed and the course of care. Even if people wanted to shop as if they're paying for it out of their own pocket, they couldn't. There are no competitive price lists. There is zero transparency in healthcare costs.
The doctors and hospitals do their part to jack up costs by giving unnecessary tests, so they can bilk more money out of the system to boost their profits.
Those with insurance often have really good insurance, which drives up the costs for those with lesser-than insurance.
The uninsured can't afford to pay healthcare because the monthly premiums have been driven up by the insured.
It's the same thing that happened with the economy. The wealthy, the wannabes and the speculators drove up the cost of everything, making it more difficult for the average person to afford anything.
Organizing for America's Healthcare reform kickoff:
